Pharmacy Technician Certification

There is no national standard for becoming certified as a pharmacy technician and at a state level; the requirements vary, if there are any. Most states do, however, require that you be registered with the State Board of Pharmacy and have a high school diploma. While your state may not have mandated certification requirements, pursuing certification will demonstrate your interest and commitment to this field of medicine.

While it is true that most pharmacy technicians gain an informal training through work experience, employers tend to favor those applicants who have successfully complete formal training. This is true in almost any field. To be invaluable as a pharmacy technician, you will need both “street smarts and book smarts”.

If you choose certification, there are several private organizations that offer it. Two well known organizations offering this are the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTBC) and the Examination for Certified Pharmacy Technicians (ExCPT). There is a fee for the certification exam, but most employers will reimburse you for that charge. In order to qualify to take these exams, you must have a high school diploma (or an equivalent), no felony convictions and no drug related convictions.

The exams for certification differ from one another. As an example of what to expect, let’s look at the PTBC exam. Their exam is taken on a computer and lasts about two hours. There are a total of 90 questions, but only 80 are actually scored. The topics covered on the exam are: assisting the pharmacist in serving patients, maintaining medication and inventory control systems, and participating in the administration and management of pharmacy practice. When preparing for the exam, knowledge of the material contained in basic pharmacy technician training manuals or books may be helpful. These books are easy to get and are even available online. Your supervising pharmacist may also be able to point you toward good resources to study. Extensive information on pharmacy technician certification exams is available on the online sites for the organizations. It would be in your best interest to review that information carefully before taking the exam. In the end, if things don’t go well the first time you take the exam, you may retake it again after a short waiting period.

There are two parts to certification, the initial passing of the exam and recertification. Re-certification comes up every two years and requires 20 hours of continuing education. These hours can consist of several different courses. You can rack up hours through college courses such as Chemistry, Biology, and Anatomy, pharmacy associations like American Pharmacists Association or National Pharmacy Technician Association and pharmacy technicians training programs. 10 hours of training for recertification can come from work experience under the supervision of a pharmacist.