Diploma in Pharmacy Technician

at Humber College North Campus Canada

This is one of the few Pre-Health Pathway programs with real science lab experience with no prior lab experience/studies necessary. There are a multitude of careers in health sciences, and this program is a pathway to explore your options. You will strengthen your science, writing and math skills, and explore career paths in biotechnology, pharmacy technician, registered or practical nursing, Chinese medicine, paramedicine and more. 

This program will enable you to:  

• Experience learning in a science lab 
• Participate in lab teams and conduct science experiments – starting in your first semester 
• Build your foundational skills in math, critical thinking, problem solving – key skills for every career in the health sciences 
• Gain science credits in Biology, Anatomy, Chemistry, Physics and more 
• Hone your academic skills for future studies 
• Explore many possible careers in health sciences with guest speakers and pathways events 
• You will learn to analyze personal and professional situations from various perspectives to help develop a sense of personal and social responsibility as a citizen and allied health professional.

Humber’s Recreation and Leisure Services diploma program provides you with skills needed to start your career in government, not-for-profit and commercial recreation organizations. You will learn about recreation programming, special event management, staff management, facility operations, marketing and other services within the industry.

The curriculum is designed with industry collaboration, ensuring it is current and relevant. Within the program, students use ActiveNet software and PerfectMind, the most widely used registration management software in the recreation industry.

Students apply their skills by planning and implementing events for local community and charity organizations. A three-day leadership camp at the Ontario Educational Leadership Centre helps build communication and leadership skills while guest speakers, practical training and field trips provide added benefits in preparing you for the workplace.

Learning from professors, as well as managers and directors of recreation programs, centres and agencies will give you valuable exposure to the industry and training in current issues.

Work Placement

• Qualified students will complete a work placement in Semester 4 – three days per week for 15 weeks (total of 250 hours). The school works with the student to find a placement with an industry partner. The placement occurs across industry sectors including professional sport associations, community and amateur sport governing bodies, and private sector sport organizations. These placements provide valuable experience and industry contacts.

Hearing instrument specialists (HIS) are valued members of a hearing health-care team. They conduct comprehensive diagnostic hearing assessments, develop hearing health-care plans, dispense advanced digital assistive hearing devices and evaluate outcomes using evidence-based verification methods.   

In the Hearing Instrument Specialist diploma program, you develop the academic knowledge and hands-on, real-world experience required to become a valued hearing health professional.  We combine online and in-person learning models, work-integrated learning, exceptional faculty and state of the art facilities to prepare students to skillfully work within their scope of practice and collaborate effectively as part of an interdisciplinary health-care team. Graduates of our program develop the confidence to adapt to the evolving needs of today’s patient and the emerging technologies for patient care and hearing devices.   

This program develops holistic and critical thinkers, confident clinicians and compassionate communicators who will become outstanding professionals, effective practitioners and leading contributors in their field. 

Program Highlights
Experience a number of interesting and unique courses within the program such as:

• Fundamental Principles of Hearing Devices
• Learn the history of hearing aids, basic principles of electronics and circuitry, and how this relates to the circuitry of hearing devices and styles of hearing aids. Apply this knowledge to choose the appropriate hearing device for a patient profile, and how to compare the benefits and limitations of each hearing aid style.
• Patient Psychology and Counselling Skills
• Explore the individual, familial, and societal impacts of hearing loss on a psychological, emotional, and social level. Formulate the necessary skills to connect with patients on an empathetic, culturally sensitive, and professional level. Become adept at in-depth case history taking and having goal-oriented discussions to motivate patients in their hearing rehabilitation.
• Disorders
• Identify various pathologies within the peripheral and central auditory system. Collaborate confidently with other medical professionals if referral is warranted. Through this course, you will understand the pathologies behind different types of hearing loss such as hyperacusis, tinnitus, and noise induced hearing loss.

Humber’s Pharmacy Technician diploma program prepares graduates for various careers in pharmacy including community, hospital, industry and long-term care settings.
Enjoy hands-on learning in simulated labs with low student/teacher ratios and expert faculty who are active in the pharmacy profession. In addition, learn from guest speakers who are pharmaceutical industry experts.

Courses are designed in consultation with practising pharmacy professionals and focus on key competency categories such as legal and ethical responsibilities, patient care, product distribution, health promotion, knowledge application, communication, intra- and inter-professional collaboration, and error prevention. Students apply their learning in simulated labs and during placements, providing valuable real-life experience.

Work Placement
Students will complete two unpaid four-week work placements under the supervision of a pharmacist/technician in Semester 4: one in a retail/community pharmacy and one in a hospital pharmacy setting. Students will be offered a selection of approved placement sites and will rank their preferences. Every effort will be made to place students at one of their preferred sites. Hospital pharmacy placements may be outside of the Greater Toronto area. The placements provide important workplace experience and industry contacts.

The Humber Advantage
State-Of-The-Art Labs

• The labs are fully equipped and are for the exclusive use of the Pharmacy Technician students. Knowledge gained in lecture courses forms the basis for dispensing skills that are practiced in the pharmacy labs. Students spend at least one quarter of their scheduled time in the lab learning and practicing all the required dispensing and compounding skills.

Professional and Community Partnerships

• Humber maintains strong partnerships within industry – participating employers in the work experience program continually praise graduates’ aptitude and work readiness.

Humber’s Electrical Engineering Technician – Control Systems diploma program focuses on three major concentrations in electrical engineering:

• Power industry
• Process instrumentation
• Programmable logic controllers (PLCs).

Our courses are designed in collaboration with an industry advisory panel, ensuring you learn current and relevant material. The program blends classroom theory with laboratory work on subjects such as electric devices and circuits, digital and programming fundamentals, power generation and distribution, electrical computer-aided design and drafting (CADD), electrical code, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and technical communications.

Complex and challenging assignments prepare you for the realities of a control systems and electrical engineering career. Jump-start your career in the power industry, process instrumentation field as a control specialist or working with programmable logic controllers (PLCs). Our graduates can find work as technicians – designing, maintaining, servicing or selling automated industrial, electrical machines, electrical control, power and process instrumentation systems and equipment. Some employers of our graduates include ABB Inc., Aztec Electrical Supply, Canada Bread, City of Brampton, Street Lighting Department, Eastern Power Limited, Enersource Hydro Mississauga, Siemens Building Technologies Inc., Toronto Transit Commission (TTC), Hydro One and Ontario Power Generation.

Humber’s Esthetician/Spa Management diploma program gives you the business management and hands-on skills you need for a career in the $119 billion Spa Economy (Global Wellness Institute, 2018). On the business side, learn the fundamentals of business writing, marketing, retail operation and day-to-day spa management. Hands-on courses focus on traditional services such as nail care technologies, advanced facial techniques, waxing, body treatments and makeup applications. As well, you will learn advanced medical esthetic services such as OxyGeneo, microdermabrasion, chemical peels, laser and Intense Pulse Light (IPL).

At Humber, you will practise what you are learning and improve your skills at The Humber Spa, a simulated work environment and retail boutique open to the community. Working under the guidance of qualified lab technicians, you will manage the administrative functions of the spa, including frontline responsibilities, retail operations and providing spa services. You will provide a series of treatments including facials, hand and foot care, and body treatments to clientele.

In the first semester, you will be introduced to spa management and client services, physiology of the skin, and professional skin care, and begin to train in traditional esthetic services. In the second semester, you will study computer applications, advanced facial techniques, waxing services and nail care. Later in the program, you will study marketing, cosmetic applications, human resource management and medical spa services. 

Work Placement
Two work placements offer students experience working with clients. The placements will be onsite at The Humber Spa.

Humber’s Plumbing Techniques certificate program is a comprehensive introduction to the trade. You will learn the basics of plumbing including theory, code and blueprints, as well as gain significant hands-on experience. Upon completion of this program, you will have the skills necessary to pursue a career in the plumbing trade.

Water, waste and sewage systems – hallmarks of urban living – require high-level skills to design, install and maintain. In the Plumbing Techniques certificate program, you’ll be introduced to the skills necessary to begin your career as a plumber. Graduates of this program may find a range of career opportunities including apprenticeship, construction industry work, green energy initiatives, and municipal water and sewage treatment. According to BuildForce Canada, an estimated 248,000 construction workers are expected to retire over the next decade. This demographic trend represents as significant loss of skilled workers that will require new workers to replace them. Given this potential shortage, as well as the boom in construction across the country, individuals with plumbing skills are projected to have an advantage in the job market.

Humber’s Tourism – Travel Services Management diploma program is ideal for those who possess a genuine love of travel, exploration and adventure. The program will provide you with the experience you need to excel in this exciting industry including:

• Tour operations
• Travel agencies
• Tourist boards
• Adventure and eco travel
• Cruise lines, airlines
• Voluntourism
• Educational tour companies
• Sales and marketing

In order to best prepare for this dynamic industry, you will have several opportunities to travel internationally on both short duration trips and for full semesters abroad. In addition, several courses include local travel opportunities that give you hands-on experiences in a variety of tourism and travel products and adventures. In the Trip Planning course, you will plan and execute a travel experience. The program also includes extensive training with the most recognized software systems in the tourism industry.

Fast-track program – Students that start in January will complete the program on a fast-track schedule. The first semester (January to April) is immediately followed by the second semester (May to August), resulting in a short summer break. Students enter Semester 3 in September, completing the two-year program in just 16 months.

Students will apply their skills and knowledge in the fourth semester in a seven-week (32 hours per week) unpaid work placement. Placement opportunities include positions in retail travel agencies, tour operators and destination management companies. You will practise and develop skills selling tourism products, as well as gain introductions to operations, sales and marketing.

Our program is the launching pad to an exciting career in one of the world’s largest, most dynamic industries. Establish your career in:

• Tourism product sales and marketing
• Customer service
• Operations
• Wholesale and retail reservations
• Product planning and niche tourism
• Tour conducting

In this industry, you will have the opportunity to work in Canadian and international markets with tour operators, travel agencies, airlines, destination management companies and other travel suppliers.

Humber’s Heating, Refrigeration and Air Conditioning Technician diploma program prepares you for a career as a technician capable of designing, installing and servicing many different types of energy systems. As you progress through the program, you will become familiar with the design, installation and service techniques of heating and air conditioning systems in residential and small commercial buildings. As well, you will learn to size, select and maintain equipment for building comfort according to various industry standards.
Today’s residential central air conditioning and heating systems are more energy efficient than those that were typically installed in the past. As this sector continues to address Canadians’ concerns about rising energy prices and the environment, there will be ongoing opportunities for you to work with design contractors in installing, servicing and retrofitting heating, ventilation and air conditioning and refrigeration (HRAC) equipment. As well, you could choose to work as a sales representative, specifications writer or service representative. With further experience, you could become an estimator, working with plans and specifications to determine material and labour requirements in preparation of contract bids.

Fashion is an international business, and Humber’s Fashion Arts and Business diploma program places an emphasis on retail operations from both domestic and international perspectives. You will study marketing, store planning and merchandising, brand management, marketing, social media, event planning, and retail buying. You’ll also learn fashion trend forecasting, sales techniques, and colour and styling analysis while attaining basic knowledge of fashion products and fashion promotion. These skills are then applied to product launches, planning merchandise assortments, styling fashion shoots and the production of fashion events.

Our advisory committee provides regular review and input of curriculum ensuring our program is always on the cutting edge of industry developments.

In first year, courses in the business of fashion – marketing strategies, product knowledge, trend forecasting and web merchandising – give students an overview of this multibillion-dollar industry. In second year, students build on the skills developed on the foundation with wholesale sales, retail buying and operation, photo styling and event planning and budgeting.

Learning Outcomes:

Upon successful completion of the program, a graduate will:

• Differentiate the purposes and functions of and the relationships between various elements within the structure of the fashion industry in order to identify business opportunities, challenges and solutions.
• Define and use correctly the terminology and language of fashion from a business and art perspective in order to communicate effectively with the range of stakeholders in the fashion industry.
• Identify artistic and business trends in order to capitalize on emerging opportunities throughout the stages of product development, manufacturing, distribution and promotion.
• Respond to current market conditions based on detailed analysis of company and/or industry reports.
• Design promotional materials and events using current digital technologies and styling methodologies in order to advance fashion arts and business objectives.
• Employ professional practices which support current business strategies and plans adhering to legal, ethical and sustainable standards appropriate to the fashion industry.
• Create a variety of strategic planning deliverables for achieving measurable goals for fashion merchandising, marketing, operations, finance and sales.
• Conduct vendor negotiations, budgeting, critical path analysis, communications and operations for effective fashion-related promotional events.
• Tailor visual and verbal presentations suitable for various stakeholders (e.g. buyers, senior managers, vendors, customers) to meet their specific requirements.
• Generate social media strategy and content for marketing purposes in order to build product and brand awareness.
• Negotiate mutually profitable business-to-business transactions between parties in the supply chain in order to maximize cost effectiveness.
• Develop professional development plans to set career goals based on self-assessment of strengths, interests and opportunities.