Pharmacy Technician Continuing Education

Once a pharmacy technician has successfully completed the certification exam process, which allows him or her to be accorded the title “Certified Pharmacy Technician” (CphT), they are certified for a two-year period only. 

In order, to maintain the certification earned, the Certified Pharmacy Technician must complete 20 hours of continuing education credits during each two year period.

Passing the original exam is not an automatic thing; it requires adequate knowledge of basic skills in math and science as well as reasoning and reading comprehension components.  While certification is not generally required as a prerequisite for hiring, some positions of pharmacy technician come with the stipulation that the employee will earn their certification within a certain specific length of time.

If a person works directly under the tutelage of a pharmacists, 10 hours of the plan can be considered continuing education.  The additional ten hours of the twenty hours can be completed by taking pharmaceutical related coursework including such things as on the job training, attending lectures, completing college coursework.  At least one hour of the coursework must be in the subject of pharmacy law.

Because of the fast-changing nature of the Pharmacy Technician field, with more responsibilities being placed on the position, technicians need to continue to update their job knowledge through the continuing education program.  Although some states limit the number of pharmacy technicians who can report directly to one pharmacist, there is still increased duties and components of the pharmacist’s area of expertise which are being assigned to the technicians after proper training.  An example is the increased use of robotic devices which must be monitored by the technicians.