The Task Force recommended, and the NABP Executive Committee approved, that NABP amend the Model Act to a recommendation that all boards of pharmacy require pharmacy technicians to be certified by 2015, in accordance with the JCPP Future Vision of Pharmacy Practice.

Technician accountability is vital for a new vision of pharmacy practice and new roles for pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Part of ensuring that pharmacy technicians meet such standards is the implementation of a standard measure of competency. Toward this end, under the advisement of the task force and the approval of the Executive Committee, NABP encourages the boards of pharmacy to require certification by the PTCB. These announcements were released at NABP’s annual meeting held last week.

The Task Force’s recommendation to certify all pharmacy technicians using the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE) comes at a time when the demand for technician competency through uniform standards has never been greater. A 2007 poll commissioned by PTCB showed that 91% of American consumers surveyed support strong regulations across the country to protect patient safety by requiring that pharmacy technicians be trained and certified.

“The task force’s latest encouragement of this standard reinforces PTCB’s place as the strongest certification program available for pharmacy technicians,” said Melissa Murer Corrigan, RPh, Executive Director and CEO of PTCB. “Having consistent requirements for pharmacy technician certification in every state is an important first step towards meeting the high standard of safety that patients expect and deserve.”

NABP has been at the center of developing, implementing, and enforcing uniform standards for states since 1904. NABP reviewed and approved the PTCE through Resolution 96-1-2000, which was adopted by the NABP member boards at the 96th Annual Meeting in 2000.

PTCB is currently the only certification program endorsed by NABP, the American Pharmacists Association (APhA), and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP).
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For more information about certification, and technician standards visit www.ptcb.org and www.pharmacytechnician.org

Bill proponents say more training and education are needed to prevent prescription and medicine errors.

“In two weeks time, I went from working, folding linens in a linen store to making IVs at a pharmacy,” said Natasha Nicols, who has since become a pharmacist. She’s now president-elect of the S.C. Society of Health-System Pharmacists, which backed the bill.

It could be next session before a compromise could be brokered and a subcommittee of lawmakers takes the bill back up, said its sponsor, Rep. Kit Spires, a pharmacist and Lexington County Republican.

At issue is that nearly 5,000 of the state’s more than 7,400 technicians are not certified pharmacy technicians even though they work behind pharmacy counters, preparing medicines and filling prescriptions.

Instead, would-be techs pay a $40 registration fee. They are required to work under the supervision of a pharmacist and take 10 hours of continuing education annually.

No state agency tracks the number of prescription errors that occur in the state’s pharmacies. One is too many, said Kathy Darragh, of Greenwood, who told lawmakers Tuesday her granddaughter died after receiving an overdose of intravenous medicine in a hospital in South Carolina in 2002.

A tech and pharmacist failed to catch the error when filling an IV prescription, she said.

“My granddaughter fought many battles in her life and survived,” Darragh said. Complications from a surgery meant the child relied on IV injections to receive drugs and nutrition.

“But human error is not one you can fight against,” said Darragh, who became an IV pharmacy tech after the tragedy.

Opponents of the bill, including the S.C. Association of Chain Drug Stores, said the bill would hinder pharmacies’ abilities to recruit technicians.

“The real danger is an overwhelmed pharmacist with no help,” said Kevin Floyd, a Charleston pharmacist and president of the association. “It’s about a yearlong process to gain state certification.”

Floyd said rural areas and small pharmacies would suffer the most if the bill passed because they would not be able to fill technician positions.

“The cost of education and the time commitment is a barrier to lots of folks,” he said.

Under the bill, starting in 2012, pharmacy techs would be required to complete a certification program at a technical school, log 1,000 hours of work experience under a pharmacist and pass an exam.

Spires said the bill’s educational requirements are too stiff for the economic times and he will work on a compromise.