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The differences between clinical technicians and pharmacist technicians can be seen in a few details. Each job has different responsibilities and duties. Additionally, a pharmacist technician has an average salary of $36,090, which is higher than the $35,760 average annual salary of a clinical technician.
The top three skills for a clinical technician include patients, vital signs and phlebotomy. The most important skills for a pharmacist technician are patients, math, and direct supervision.
| Clinical Technician | Pharmacist Technician | |
| Yearly salary | $35,760 | $36,090 |
| Hourly rate | $17.19 | $17.35 |
| Growth rate | 9% | 5% |
| Number of jobs | 161,812 | 73,800 |
| Job satisfaction | - | 1 |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Average age | 44 | 38 |
| Years of experience | 12 | - |
A clinical technician is responsible for operating and maintaining clinical equipment, ensuring the proper sterilization of all laboratory tools and kits to avoid contamination during medical procedures. Clinical technicians assist the patients with their medical inquiries and needs, collecting samples for laboratory, and helping medical professionals on surgeries and other medical operations. They also maintain medical charts, update patients' information on the database, and administer patients' medication. A clinical technician must have excellent knowledge of the medical industry, as well as strictly following internal guidelines and safety procedures during operations.
Pharmacist technicians assist pharmacists in their daily activities. They receive prescription medicine order requests of customers, validate the prescription, prepare the medicines, properly label medicine bottles, and hand them off to customers. They also answer customer inquiries and attend to customer concerns. Pharmacist technicians also manage the pharmacy's inventory and ensure that all records are up to date. They are also authorized to create purchase requisition requests for medicines that are running low and need to be refilled, but these requests should still be authorized by a doctor.
Clinical technicians and pharmacist technicians have different pay scales, as shown below.
| Clinical Technician | Pharmacist Technician | |
| Average salary | $35,760 | $36,090 |
| Salary range | Between $26,000 And $48,000 | Between $26,000 And $48,000 |
| Highest paying City | Seattle, WA | San Francisco, CA |
| Highest paying state | Alaska | Alaska |
| Best paying company | Brigham and Women's Hospital | Valley Presbyterian Hospital |
| Best paying industry | Government | Health Care |
There are a few differences between a clinical technician and a pharmacist technician in terms of educational background:
| Clinical Technician | Pharmacist Technician | |
| Most common degree | Bachelor's Degree, 40% | Bachelor's Degree, 35% |
| Most common major | Nursing | Pharmacy |
| Most common college | University of Connecticut | - |
Here are the differences between clinical technicians' and pharmacist technicians' demographics:
| Clinical Technician | Pharmacist Technician | |
| Average age | 44 | 38 |
| Gender ratio | Male, 26.6% Female, 73.4% | Male, 24.9% Female, 75.1% |
| Race ratio | Black or African American, 12.8% Unknown, 5.1% Hispanic or Latino, 16.5% Asian, 11.2% White, 53.6% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% | Black or African American, 8.6% Unknown, 5.7% Hispanic or Latino, 14.5% Asian, 10.1% White, 60.2% American Indian and Alaska Native, 0.8% |
| LGBT Percentage | 8% | 5% |