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Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) — Requirements & Free Practice

US · License preparation

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Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT)

A PTCB credential through which pharmacy technicians demonstrate knowledge and commitment in medication safety and effective patient care across pharmacy settings.

Licensing authority: Pharmacy Technician Certification Board · Application information

Initial by examination
Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam® (PTCE®)
Eligibility
The CPhT page lists residence in the United States or its territories as an eligibility condition. The guidebook says PTCB examinations are generally administered in the US; active US military members and their spouses may test anywhere, and other applicants outside the US may test only if they meet specific PTCB criteria. These testing provisions do not themselves establish a waiver of the stated CPhT residence condition. Applicants must pass the PTCE, complete a PTCB-recognized education/training program or at least 500 hours of equivalent pharmacy technician work experience, disclose criminal and state board actions, and comply with PTCB certification policies. Recognized training may be completed within 60 days of application, but proof is required before certification; a pharmacy degree may substitute for recognized training.

Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam® (PTCE®)

Provider
Pearson Test Centers
Format
Computer-based multiple-choice examination
Exam questions
Total questions: 90; Scored questions: 80; Unscored questions: 10; The total includes the scored and unscored questions.
Time limit
2 hours including tutorial and post-exam survey; 1 hour 50 minutes for examination
Passing score
1,400 scaled
Exam fee
$129 for CPhT certification application and PTCE
Examination outline
  • Medications (35%)
    • Generic names, brand names, and classifications of medications
    • Therapeutic duplications
    • Common or life-threatening drug interactions and contraindications (e.g., drug-drug, drug-dietary supplement, drug-laboratory, drug-nutrient, drug-disease)
    • Strengths/doses, dosage forms, routes of administration, special handling and administration instructions, and duration of drug therapy
    • Common or severe medication side effects, adverse effects, and allergies
    • Indications of medications
    • Drug stability (e.g., oral suspensions, insulins, reconstitutables, injectables, vaccinations)
    • Proper storage of medications (e.g., temperature ranges, light sensitivity, restricted access)
  • Federal Requirements (18.75%)
    • Federal requirements for storage, handling, and disposal of non-hazardous, hazardous (e.g., P-list), and pharmacological substances and wastes
    • Federal requirements for controlled substance prescriptions (i.e., new, refill, transfer) and DEA controlled substance schedules
    • Federal requirements for receiving, storing, ordering, labeling, dispensing, returning, take-back programs for, loss or theft of, and destroying controlled substances
    • Federal restricted drug programs and related medication-processing requirements (e.g., pseudoephedrine, Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies [REMS])
    • FDA requirements for medication recalls
    • FDA product serialization, tracking, tracing, handling, and quarantining requirements (i.e., Drug Supply Chain Security Act [DSCSA])
  • Patient Safety and Quality Assurance (23.75%)
    • High-alert/risk medications and look-alike/sound-alike (LASA) medications
    • Error prevention strategies (e.g., prescription or medication order to correct patient, Tall Man lettering, separating inventory, leading and trailing zeros, bar code usage, limit use of error-prone abbreviations)
    • Issues that require pharmacist intervention (e.g., drug utilization review [DUR], adverse drug event [ADE], OTC recommendation, therapeutic substitution, misuse, adherence, post-immunization delivery care, allergies, drug interactions)
    • Event reporting procedures (e.g., medication errors, adverse effects, product integrity, MedWatch, VAERS, near miss, root-cause analysis [RCA], continuous quality improvement [CQI])
    • Types of prescription errors (e.g., incorrect dose, quantity, patient, drug, route of administration)
    • Infection prevention procedures and cleaning standards (e.g., handwashing, personal protective equipment [PPE], cleaning counting trays, countertops, and equipment)
  • Order Entry and Processing (22.5%)
    • Formulas, calculations, ratios, proportions, conversions, Sig codes (e.g., b.i.d., t.i.d., Roman numerals), abbreviations, medical terminology, and symbols for days supply, quantity, dose, concentration, dilutions
    • Equipment and supplies required for drug administration (e.g., diabetic supplies, inhaler spacers, oral syringes, injectable syringes, filters, dilution solutions, immunization supplies, nebulizers)
    • Lot numbers, expiration dates, and National Drug Code (NDC) numbers
    • Procedures for identifying and returning dispensable, non-dispensable, and expired medications and supplies (e.g., credit return, return to stock, reverse distribution)
Examination sources