Program areas at PTCB
The Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (ptcb) was established in january 1995 and is governed by six organizations: the american pharmacists association, the american society of health-system pharmacists association, the Illinois council of health-system pharmacists, the Michigan pharmacists association, the national association of boards of Pharmacy, and the national community pharmacists association. Ptcb is a national Certification program that enables Pharmacy technicians to work more effectively with pharmacists to offer safe and effective patient care and service. Ptcb develops, maintains, promotes and administers a national commission of certifying agencies (ncca) accredited Certification program for Pharmacy technicians. The ptcb cpht examination was developed by ptcb to determine whether individuals have mastered the knowledge and skills necessary to practice as a Pharmacy Technician. Since 1995, ptcb has certified more than 813,000 Pharmacy technicians through the exam and transfer process. In 2023, ptcb certified 29,579 Pharmacy technicians and re-certified more than 121,000 Pharmacy technicians.
In 2019, ptcb created a product line of assessment based certificates for advanced Technician roles and an advanced certified Pharmacy Technician (cpht-advtm) designation. These certificates recognize the important contributions Pharmacy technicians make to advance medication safety. During 2023, 2,981 of the assessment based certificates were granted and ptcb had 1,686 active cpht-adv credential holders at the end of 2023.
In 2017 ptcb created the certified compounded sterile products Technician (cspt) exam program. Sterile compounding is the preparation of medications in a sterile environment to prevent contamination. Through the cspt program, ptcb-certified Pharmacy technicians (cphts) have the opportunity to demonstrate their specialized knowledge and commitment to medication safety by meeting the high standards of ptcb's cspt program. At the end of 2023, ptcb had certified 1,527 cspts.