Pharmacy Technicians
Prepare medications under the direction of a pharmacist. May measure, mix, count out, label, and record amounts and dosages of medications according to prescription orders.
471,680 people do this job in the US. $45,750 a year.
of the working time. Estimate.
- 25%
- 0%
- 75%
Measured, from Anthropic's usage data (2025). Counts help on part of a task.
On the chosen pace and reliability. Estimate.
Share of the working time within reach, now to 2030
What each choice means: , , , , . Every pace starts from .
At this date and pace, models finish tasks up to 4.4 h long four times in five.
How far this has come
With GPT-4, measured in March 2023, 0% of this job's working time was within reach at . With Claude 3.7 Sonnet, measured in February 2025, 12%. With Claude Mythos Preview (early), measured in April 2026, 25%. Today's estimate: 26%.
A backcast: today's task data with the best model METR had measured by each date. It shows how fast the models have moved, not what anyone forecast at the time.
The tasks
Sorted by . 21 tasks from .
| Task | Kind | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Receive and store incoming supplies, verify quantities against invoices, check for outdated medications in current inventory, and inform supervisors of stock needs and shortages.Done daily by most who do it. | 15% | 50 min17 min to 1.7 h | Stays with people | |
| Maintain proper storage and security conditions for drugs.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 10% | 25 min13 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Mix pharmaceutical preparations, according to written prescriptions.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 25 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepare and process medical insurance claim forms and records.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 8% | 21 min8 min to 42 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Order, label, and count stock of medications, chemicals, or supplies and enter inventory data into computer.Done daily by most who do it. | 7% | 29 min13 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Clean and help maintain equipment or work areas and sterilize glassware, according to prescribed methods.Done daily by most who do it. | 6% | 21 min8 min to 38 min | Stays with people | |
| Transfer medication from vials to the appropriate number of sterile, disposable syringes, using aseptic techniques.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Prepack bulk medicines, fill bottles with prescribed medications, and type and affix labels.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 13 min4 min to 29 min | Stays with people | |
| Restock intravenous (IV) supplies and add measured drugs or nutrients to IV solutions under sterile conditions to prepare IV packs for various uses, such as chemotherapy medication.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 38 min17 min to 1.3 h | Stays with people | |
| Establish or maintain patient profiles, including lists of medications taken by individual patients.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 10 min4 min to 21 min | 100%Half by now | |
| Supply and monitor robotic machines that dispense medicine into containers and label the containers.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 5% | 21 min8 min to 50 min | Stays with people | |
| Receive written prescription or refill requests and verify that information is complete and accurate.Done hourly or more by most who do it. | 3% | 6 min3 min to 13 min | 100%Half by now |
Within reach, per task: the share of the task's time whose instances are short enough for a model to finish at the chosen date, pace and reliability. Half by: the date half of that time comes within reach.
Jobs that share skills with this one
From O*NET's related occupations. Within reach now and by the end of 2028, long-run pace, four in five.
Where this job works
The industry groups that employ the most of it (BLS, May 2025).
Where the most of these jobs are
The metro areas with the most people in it (BLS, May 2025).