David LinckAlthough currently only a minority of states actually require pharmacy technician continuing education, more and more states have been adding this requirement. Regardless of state requirements, any pharmacy technician that is certified by the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) needs to complete 20 hours of continuing education every two years in order to get recertified. There are many options available for pharmacy technicians to complete their continuing education requirements.
The National Pharmacy Technician Association (NPTA) has accredited continuing education programs for pharmacy technicians available in a variety of different formats including online options, in print options, in person options, and recorded options. These pharmacy technician continuing education programs have been accredited by the Accreditation Council on Pharmacy Education (ACPE).
Once you have selected one of the pharmacy technician CE options available, you either read or watch the course material, and then you return to the website to take the course test. You need to score at least 70% in order to get credit for the course. If you receive a passing score you can print your certificate showing you have completed that pharmacy tech continuing education course. If you do not receive a high enough score to pass the course the first time, you can go over the materials again and try the test once more at no additional cost.
The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) also has pharmacy tech CE courses available. They can be taken through online courses, reading printed matter, or podcasts. Like the pharmacy technician continuing education courses of the NPTA, once you have finished studying the material you must take a test and get a passing score in order to get the continuing education credits.
Other organizations the provide pharmacy technician CE courses include JER Group, Inc. (through online workshops), American College of Clinical Pharmacy, Baxter Healthcare Corporation, The California Pharmacists Association, Drug Information Association, Drug Store News, DrugTopics.com, Free CE, George Washington University Medical Center, The Iowa Pharmacists Association, MediCom Worldwide, Inc., Medscape.com, the Meniscus Educational Institute, National Community Pharmacists Association, Oregon State Pharmacists Association, PharmaCE, Pharmacy Connects, Pharmacy Times, Power-Pak C.E., Professional CEU, P*ceutics Institute, QuickTestPrep.com, RxSchool, RxSuccess Pharmacy Technician Training Programs, RXTechSchool.com, Serono Symposia USA, State University of New York at Buffalo, Temple University School of Pharmacy, U.S. Pharmacist, and the University of Georgia Center for Continuing Education.
With all the options available for pharmacy technician continuing education it shouldn’t be a problem for pharmacy techs to find courses of interest to them that they can take in order to complete their continuing education requirements. Louis Zhang, Certpharmacytechnician dot com
