March 29, 2024

Pharmacy Technician Program Recognized

Pharmacy Technician

The Pharmacy Technician Program at the College of Southern Maryland has been recognized by the country’s leading certifying organization for pharmacy technicians as being ready and prepared to meet significant Certified Pharmacy Technician Program changes that will take effect Jan. 1, 2020.

The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board announced last January that it was making changes to eligibility requirements for CPhT programs and updating its Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam in 2020 to make the criteria more rigorous.

“PTCB relies on data and pharmacy stakeholder conversations in all we do with the goal of advancing medication safety,” PTCB Executive Director and CEO William Schimmel said in a news release. “The new eligibility requirements are based on input from pharmacy professionals that certain knowledge, skills and abilities are acquired most effectively through education/training or work experience. Pharmacy employers can be confident that PTCB-certified pharmacy technicians have demonstrated they have the knowledge to advance patient care in today’s pharmacy.”

“We are thrilled that CSM’s Pharmacy Technician Program is recognized as already fulfilling the more demanding training eligibility requirements that CPhT applicants will have to meet in January 2020,” said CSM Assistant Professor and Alllied Health Program Coordinator Sharon Baker, P.D., M.S. BSPharm, in the release. “We have always felt our technician program delved into the intricacies of pharmaceutical demands well beyond standard requirements and this diesignation proves that.”

The Pharmacy Technician Program is a part of CSM’s Health Pathway course of study. To get students focused as they begin their coursework at CSM, the college’s 92 programs are placed within six program clusters called Guided Pathways. The six pathways are: art and humanities; business and information systems; education and public service; health; science, technology, engineering, and math; and, trades, transportation, and energy.

Learn more about CSM’s Pharmacy Technician Program, the Health Pathway or any of CSM’s other five Guided Pathways, by visiting the college online.

About Pharmacy Technician Certification Board

PTCB was created in 1995 by the American Pharmacists Association, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, Illinois Council of Health-System Pharmacists, and Michigan Pharmacists Association, and then joined by the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy in 2001. PTCB advocates for one single national standard for pharmacy technician certification that can be recognized and supported by the profession.

For more about the College of Southern Maryland, visit its Leader member page.

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