Certification Exam (PTCE)

The following information was obtained from the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB) website. Make sure to visit https://www.ptcb.org for more in-depth information regarding the PTCE and becoming a Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT).

Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE)

Test Information

  • $129 (covers cost to apply for CPhT Certification and take the PTCE)
  • The PTCE is a computer-based exam with 90 multiple-choice questions (80 scored questions and 10 unscored questions). Unscored questions are randomly placed throughout the exam and are not identified.
  • Be prepared to commit 2 hours for the exam (5-minute tutorial, 1 hour and 50-minute exam, and 5-minute post-exam survey).

Content Outline

Medications

  • Generic names, brand names, and classifications of medications 
  • Therapeutic equivalence
  • Common and life-threatening drug interactions and contraindications (e.g., drug-disease, drug-drug, drug-dietary supplement, drug-laboratory, drug-nutrient) 
  • Strengths/dose, dosage forms, routes of administration, special handling and administration instructions, and duration of drug therapy
  • Common and severe medication side effects, adverse effects, and allergies
  • Indications of medications and dietary supplements 
  • Drug stability (e.g., oral suspensions, insulin, reconstitutables, injectables, vaccinations)
  • Narrow therapeutic index (NTI) medications
  • Physical and chemical incompatibilities related to non-sterile compounding and reconstitution 
  • Proper storage of medications (e.g., temperature ranges, light sensitivity, restricted access) 

Federal Requirements

  • Federal requirements for handling and disposal of non-hazardous, hazardous, and pharmaceutical substances and waste 
  • Federal requirements for controlled substance prescriptions (i.e., new, refill, transfer) and DEA controlled substance schedules 
  • Federal requirements (e.g., DEA, FDA) for controlled substances (i.e., receiving, storing, ordering, labeling, dispensing, reverse distribution, take-back programs, and loss or theft of) 
  • Federal requirements for restricted drug programs and related medication processing (e.g., pseudoephedrine, Risk Evaluation and Mitigation Strategies [REMS]) 
  • FDA recall requirements (e.g., medications, devices, supplies, supplements, classifications)

Patient Safety and Quality Assurance

  • 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 follow-up, allergies, drug interactions) 
  • Event reporting procedures (e.g., medication errors, adverse effects, and product integrity, MedWatch, near miss, root-cause analysis [RCA]) 
  • Types of prescription errors (e.g., abnormal doses, early refill, incorrect quantity, incorrect patient, incorrect drug) Guidebook Last updated on: December 6, 2021 
  • Hygiene and cleaning standards (e.g., handwashing, personal protective equipment [PPE], cleaning counting trays, countertop, and equipment) 

Order Entry and Processing

  • Procedures to compound non-sterile products (e.g., ointments, mixtures, liquids, emulsions, suppositories, enemas) 
  • Formulas, calculations, ratios, proportions, alligations, 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/supplies required for drug administration (e.g., package size, unit dose, diabetic supplies, spacers, oral and injectable syringes) 
  • 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)