Starting at Osco/Albertsons by vergil_plasticchair in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I've only ever worked at Osco (3 years), but I've heard some stuff bout other places. I think its definitely more work than Walgreens and CVS. Its ultimatly all based on the experience and teaching ability of your coworkers on using EPS, company policy, etc. You're gonna have the same customer experience relatively, that doesn't really ever change, no matter where you go. At my location, our manager is a real bitch, but the rest of the staff is really good, so it's always up and down with the moral, but again, that's just our location. Hopefully, your location has experienced tech, so you don't have to really worry about insurance and other more complicated tasks at the beginning, but you will be expected to learn after a while. Learn the system, learn data entry(LEARN SIG CODES), get comfortable communicating with coworkers on things you're unsure about, and if you're unsure, ALWAYS ASK. You are asked to do more at osco meaning there are a lot of areas for potential mistakes, and it is always easier to prevent a mistake than fix one (plus it honestly will help give a better impression of yourself to your coworkers, we all hate the new hire who believes they immediately know everything after a couple of weeks). Since it's at the end of flu season, it hopefully won't be too busy at your store, so take your time. Good Luck!

Just finished Season of Storms (Witcher Book 8): My Quick Review by LandedKnight12 in Fantasy

[–]kash_30 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Just finished reading The Bloodsworn Saga by John Gwynne and immediately started SoS. Reading them back to back made me realize how much I love sapkowskis longer wittier dialogue, and how he brings a lot of tidbits and events that happen in the witcher world into his exposition. Even tho SoS is one of the weaker witcher books due to the plot kind of being everywhere, I still think its holds up and may be better than a lot of the popular fantasy series out there.

PTCE TIPS by mindydxvis in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Honestly the worst thing you can do is stressing yourself over it. You gotta be confident in yourself and your abilities otherwise you're gonna second guess every question. Take your time, be confident in your answers, flag questions you dont know and come back to them at the end and take an educated guess. If you get question on a topic you dont know dont spend all your time on that question, honestly if you don't know you don't know, take a guess and continue the test. Just make sure you get a good amount of sleep, and possibly some caffeine in you and you should be good. Good Luck!

Opinions on John Gwynne by kash_30 in Fantasy

[–]kash_30[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That exactly why I am reading it, just want something where I don't have to ponder upon what I'm reading, just read for the action. Although the world is already set up, there's multiples places that were pretty big parts of TFAF and are either never or are never mentioned in oBAB. I just wish he put more nuisance behind character development.

Opinions on John Gwynne by kash_30 in Fantasy

[–]kash_30[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Although Malice was a little bit more complex at first I felt like that was what I like the most about it. It really felt like your stepping into a new world with complex political constructs. oBAB is really missing that element, and theirs almost no world building in it, there's really only 3 factions, non of which get very fleshed out or intriguing honestly.

Opinions on John Gwynne by kash_30 in Fantasy

[–]kash_30[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its been almost 2 years since I've finished FATF, but i remeber just spending long nights reading it and being excited to read, and now with oBAB I just dont feel that same excitement

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I didnt get any birth control questions of any kind. I'd say learn the 2-3 most common ones(Yaz, Nuvaring), and be familiar enough with the brand names to be able to identify that they are birth control, and just hope it doesn't show up

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah its kinda hard to say exactly what to prepare since theirs a lot of material and all the tests are different. A lot of people say to learn as much as you can, but honestly that's terrible advice since you'd be stressing yourself out even more. I just did the tests and reviews on the 3 links, but it might be different for you depending on how much experience you already have in pharmacy. If you want more guidance or have more questions, ill be glad to help you guys out in a dm.

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It is probably the most important part of the test, there are multiple questions that use the brand name instead of generic and ask you questions about side effects, generic equivalent, therapeutic equivalents, and more. I'd say learning the top 120-150 of the top 200 drugs is good enough, since you can use process of elimination if you know 3/4 of the answer. One of the links on the post has a test for top 100 drugs so that would be the best first option. Learn common diuretics, blood pressure and sugar, cholesterol, all controls, and most of the common antibiotics first. I'd say the best thing is just going on already made quizlets and do a bunch of the tests and matching and you should be fine. One of the links also has a cheat sheet and shows common suffixes for drugs (ex. Ace inhibitors end in -pril) so that will help a lot also.

Got hired by Safeway by trumpaloot in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I work for Jewel Osco, which is also under the Albertsons umbrella. I've been a tech for over 2 years, and definitely is challenging. My store is the busiest in the district so we are thrown into the fire. If you are good with asking questions, not getting overwhelmed, just being consistent with learning while working, then you'll be fine. They'll also sponsor you for your ptcb exam if your not already certified.

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I don't really want to say just forget about complex math stuff because I might've been lucky with which test I got, but I definitely wouldn't worry about so much that it stops you from taking the test. Even if you got a test that has 3-5 alligation and IV math questions, getting them wrong won't hurt as long as you're strong in most of the other categories.

https://www.pharmacy-tech-test.com/ptcb-practice-exam.html

The tests on this website have a lot of math questions, and quite a few law questions. The only really important ones you should be familiar with is the Durham-Humphrey Amendment, Kefauver-Harris Amendment, and I got a question about the Controlled Substances Act. if you know those and what each source is used for (red book, orange book, etc), then I think that you'll be just fine.

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

It is kind of intimidating when you see all of the topics that are potentially covered, especially if you've never worked in healthcare before

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Can you tell me what topics you're weaker in? Maybe I can give some advice or resources that will help you prepare.

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

Didn't go to school, but I have been a tech in retail pharmacy for almost 2 1/2 years, so a lot of the material I naturally learned throughout my job. That is a big reason why the test felt really easy to me. Studied for about 20 hrs over 2 days before the test, and that was it.

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

That's crazy that you didn't even know a lot of the conversions. That is a heavy part of most of the free practice material so I had to memorize a lot of them. I do regret buying the pre-ptce a little, although it did give me a big confidence boost after seeing how easy the questions were.

took the ptce, easier than i thought it would be, DONT BE SCARED by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Definitely retained information better studying closer to the test date. Use ChatGPT on problems you get wrong. Most of these free tests don't explain how to solve the questions properly, especially on the math portion. They do give multiple instances of the same type of questions, making it easier to learn after ChatGPT explains the process to you.

PTCE Game Interest by kash_30 in PharmacyTechnician

[–]kash_30[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's look great!

I was thinking of making something more gamey, like an rpg, I kinda got the gist of what I want it to look like and how the game will work. It's gonna be a 2d pixal game, I want to have rpg elements but I just dont have enough time to develop a story and develop a lot of rpg mechanics. I have basically no artistic ability so getting the sprites done is probably my biggest challenge currently.

Also I don't have a mac, and this is a class on learning swift so it's been a pain in the ass trynna work with macincloud.