1. Pharmacy Technician’s Course. LaGuardia Community College
Instructor: Milan Topalov

2. Instructor Credentials
Education:
St. John’s University, Jamaica, N.Y. : Bachelor Degree in Chemistry cum laude. Awarded Curriculum included organic synthesis, functional group analysis, and other chemical theory study.
St. John’s University, Jamaica, N.Y.: Pharm.D in Pharmacy, cum laude. Awarded in Curriculum included required NYS pharmacy study: pharmacology, pharmacokinetics, therapeutics, pharmacy law.
Professional Licensure: NYS licensed Pharmacist (RPH): licensed October 2006

3. Employment History:
New York Presbyterian Hospital at Columbia / Cornell
622 W. 168th Street, New York, N.Y
Title: Pharmacist
Duties as Pharmacist:
medication review and order entry,
drug information consultation for MD and RN
supervision of pharmacy personnel
IV admixture preparation
Omnicell and Pyxis experience
Held: January Present.
Flushing Hospital Medical Center, Flushing NY
Title: Pharmacy Intern. Held between December 2002-October, 2006
Title: Pharmacist. Held between October 2006-December 2007
IV, TPN, and chemotherapy admixture preparation (limited experience)

4. Definition of Pharmacy Technician
A pharmacy technician is an individual who is trained to perform certain tasks related to providing pharmacy services to patients in an institutional setting and customers in a community setting.
A pharmacy technician is an important part of the pharmacy team who directly assists the pharmacist in the provision of pharmaceutical related care.
The expanding role of the pharmacy technician has enabled the pharmacist to spend more time in providing clinical services to patients.

5. Duties performed by a pharmacy technician
The duties performed by a pharmacy technician vary according to the state that the technician is employed.
Technicians in most states can:
Provide purchaser services and place orders for medications to suppliers
Physically fill and handle automated dispensing cabinets (i.e pyxis and omnicell)
Assist in inventory management
Count, pour and label medications for patients
Pre pack medications from manufacturer’s packaging to institutional packaging

6. Duties performed by a pharmacy technician (continued)
A pharmacy technician is allowed to accept written prescriptions presented to the pharmacy by patients and gather patient specific information.
A pharmacy technician is allowed to key personal prescription data into a computerized system; however a licensed pharmacist must initial and approve the entries.
A pharmacy technician is allowed to handle issues dealing with pharmacy third party payers.

7. Duties that a pharmacy technician can’t provide.
In all states, a pharmacy technician can not provide counseling to patients or provide drug information to other health care professionals (i.e MD’s and RN’s)
A pharmacy technician can not accept oral orders for new prescriptions from health care providers authorized to prescribe drugs (MD, NP, PA)
In some states, a pharmacy technician is not permitted to compound medications like creams, ointments, and parenteral agents
All these duties are the responsibilities of the pharmacist or a pharmacy intern.
In general, any issue that involves professional judgment requires the pharmacist. Performing these duties can leave you open to legal liability.

8. Requirements to be a pharmacy technician
18 years of age
High school diploma or GED
No felony convinction
The above requirements will allow you to be able to take the PTCE which is the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board’s (PTCB) exam
The website for the PTCB is

9. Certification versus Licensing:
A license is granted to a pharmacist by the state in which he/she is employed
A certification is granted by a nongovernmental agency that indicates an individual has obtain a certain level of competency in the field in which the certification is granted.
Employers recognize these agencies and often attach highest priority to these individuals possessing certification
Many states require these certifications to allow individuals to be registered as pharmacy technicians.
Some employers require these certifications for consideration in employment

10. The Pharmacist: background information
A pharmacist is an individual licensed to dispense, compound, and provide drug related advise on medications.
A pharmacists can work in a community/retail setting, hospital or institutional setting or in the pharmaceutical setting for drug companies like Pfizer or Sanofi Aventis.
To be a pharmacist requires:
Six years of study in a college of pharmacy to include organic chemistry, physiology, pharmacology and therapeutics among other course work
9 months of internship (part of six year program)
Graduation from the program with a PharmD. degree
Passage of the NAPLEX exam
Passage of the Jurisprudence (Pharmacy Law)exam for the state in which applicant wishes to practice.
Registration with the state in which the applicant wishes to practice.
45 CE credits every three years to be able to renew registration. License is permanent unless its revoked for professional misconduct.

11. Legal Cases involving Pharmacy Technicians (and Pharmacists)
“Rx for errors: Drug error killed their little girl”
Article reported in US Today in February, 2008 about 2 year old Emily Jerry in a Cleveland hospital.

12. Emily Jerry’s Case
2 year old girl was diagnosed with a curable tumor in the abdominal region of her body in 2005.
A pharmacy technician had prepared Emily’s chemotherapy medication using 23.4% solution of sodium chloride instead of the normal 0.9% sodium chloride solution.
The pharmacist who was supervising the technician also missed the error. The child received the chemotherapy agent and within a few hours was on life support.
She died on March 1, 2006.
In August 2006, an Ohio grand jury indicted the pharmacist on charges of involuntary manslaughter in the death of Emily Jerry
Unlike the pharmacist, the pharmacy technician did not face disciplinary charges; however she no longer works at the hospital and now holds a non pharmacy related job at CVS.
Congressman, Rep. Steven LaTourette, R-Ohio. introduced Emily’s Act into Ohio Legislature which would mandate certain educational requirements for all pharmacy technicians and provide for restrict legal penalties for misconduct.

13. Legal Cases
“Inside a pharmacy where a fatal error occurred” USA Today article published in 2008.
Case concerned a 46 year old man with a prescription for methadone in He had the prescription filled at a walgreens in Florida. He received his prescription and began taking his medication which is a pain killer. Within a day he was found dead in the shower by his wife. An autopsy performed determined the cause of death as a methadone overdose.
A legal case was brought against the Jacksonville, Florida walgreens. The plaintiff team determined the cause as a pharmacy technician who keyed the directions for use incorrectly and the pharmacist who was too busy to catch the error. The case was settled out of court.

14. Other cases of Pharmacy errors

15. Pharmacy Technician Certification Board
PTCB’s examination, called PTCE (Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam)
PTCB is the pharmacy technician certification board, which began in 1995
Provides a nationally recognized standard for pharmacy technicians

16. Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam
The PTCB’s exam that test and certifies a candidate’s competency as a pharmacy technician
To qualify to take the exam you must be:
18 years of age or older
Possess a high school diploma or GED ( a foreign diploma equivalent may apply)at a minimum
No felony convictions dealing with drugs (misdemeanors also) or misconduct as defined by the NABP
Once you pass the exam you may use the acronym CPhT after your name
Certification is valid for 2 years at which time renewal is required
To renew a certification you must pay a fee and take 20 hours of CE Credit to include the following:
1 CE hour of pharmacy Law
As of 2014, 1 CE hour in medication & patient safety (preventing medication errors)
All CE credit must be technician specific
ACPE (Accreditation council of Pharmacy Education) accredits certain CE providers

18. The Structure of the Exam
90 questions
10 questions are polling questions that do not count towards your score and are meant to gauge questions difficulty in reference to future exams
Time to complete: 1 hr. 50 min (with some extra time to complete a tutorial and exit survey)
The Results
Pass/fail score is reported to you immediately on the test terminal
Numerical score and certificate is mailed to your home

19. Application process Apply online: PTCB application here
The PTCB will ask you to set up an account
Once your application is approved you must pay the application fee of $129
You will receive an authorization to test notification to schedule an exam date and time. You must schedule a date and time within 90 days

20. What is bring with you to the test?
Government issued photo ID (driver’s license)
Candidates who don’t bring ID forfeit all fees and will not be permitted to test
A erasable scratch board will be provided
Handheld and on computer calculators are provided
All personal property (include cell phone) will be secured at lockers at the test site
Exam offered year round

21. How is the exam graded? Uses the modified Angoff method
Panel Experts estimate the difficulty in each question and estimate the percentage of pharmacy technician that can answer the question correctly. More difficult questions are weighted more heavily to the overall score.
Each exam is the compared to other exams so that several exams of slightly fluctuating difficulties can be scaled relative to each other. This is called Statistical Equating (SE)
Grading is from 1,000 to 1,600 passing is 1,400

22. For more information please view the PCTB website for their guidebook

23. Retake policy Candidates are allowed four attempts to pass the PTCE
Candidates must apply and pay for each attempt
Candidates who are unsuccessful at passing the PTCE must wait 60 days from the most recent attempt to apply for the second and third attempts, and 6 months for the final attempt.
After four attempts, candidates will need to petition PTCB in writing for additional attempts.
Petitions will only be considered and approved by PTCB based on a showing of reasonable cause or compelling circumstances supporting another examination attempt.

24. What is coming for the PTCB
Beginning 2020, PTCB will require that all new applicants for PTCB certification to complete an educational program that is approved by either the ACPE (Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education) or ASHP (American Society of Health System’s Pharmacists)
Education requirement will include
Didactic course work (lectures)
Practical Lab hours

25. Conclusions
You as a pharmacy technician have a wonderful career opportunity. You also have a great deal of responsibility.
It is your right to receive adequate supervision by your pharmacist. Be proactive and protect yourself.
Education is an important part of everyone’s career path. Make it a part of yours.
Good Luck