Pharmacy Tech students at their graduation stading on stage

 

Faculty in the Pharmacy Technology program know that their students may one day care for them or their loved ones, and prepare them to "become the colleagues with whom we would want to work,” Chair Doris Ontiveros said.  

The program has successfully done so for a decade, and is now having a banner year. It was recently reaccredited through 2028, and in May, 68 students graduated during the annual pinning ceremony — the largest in Pharmacy Tech history. Typically, the program averages 50 students per academic year.

In addition to those accomplishments, the program received a grant in spring that paid for 18 students to receive immunization certificates, enhancing their employment prospects. Ontiveros is using her own expertise to further bolster the program, joining the first nationwide cohort of Certified Pharmacy Technician Educators and attending the Pharmacy Technician Leadership Institute.  

“The future of pharmacy itself is evolving, so how do you stay ahead?” she said. 

One way is by giving students the skills they need to get jobs providing in-demand services, such as flu and COVID-19 vaccines. Ontiveros recently secured an automatic dispensing cabinet, laptops, textbooks, and other new equipment and supplies for the classroom. She also stays current on industry standards and builds strong relationships with clinical partners. 

“It’s important the students are not just professionally competent but culturally competent, as well,” she said. 

Ontiveros is continuing the commitment to giving students a variety of experiences in the classroom so they’ll stand out as job applicants.“Everything we do is to provide expanded opportunities and pathways for the students,” she said. 

SBVC is the only community college Pharmacy Tech program in the Inland Empire accredited by the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists that offers a certificate, an associate’s degree, and an associate’s-to-doctor-of-pharmacy pathway with Loma Linda University School of Pharmacy. Two of the factors in the program’s success are dual enrollment students and licensed pharmacy technicians who want to get an AS so they can advance professionally. California-licensed pharm techs can earn credit for selected PHT courses through Credit for Prior Learning, and three students were recently accepted into pharmacy school. 

“It’s exciting seeing that whole pathway come full circle,” Ontiveros said. “Now they have a great foundation.”