STATE-SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS FOR PHARMACIST AND PHARMACY TECHNICIAN CONTINUING EDUCATION

To advocate for the standardization of state pharmacist and pharmacy technician continuing education requirements; further,

To advocate that state boards of pharmacy adopt continuing professional development as the preferred model to maintain competence.

Rationale

All 50 states require continuing education for pharmacists as a means of maintaining their competence, and many states have similar requirements for pharmacy technicians. State requirements for continuing education differ, in numbers of hours and the time frame within which they must be collected and reported, for example. Some state boards of pharmacy have established specific educational requirements for individual topic areas they concluded should be mandatory. These initially included topics such as state-specific pharmacy law and human immunodeficiency virus and acquired immune deficiency syndrome, but more recently, states have included requirements for education on topics such as medication and patient safety, pain and palliative care, patient management, and administration of injectables. Some states also specify the number of hours that must be obtained by “live” presentation rather than home-study courses. As more states develop unique requirements, many pharmacists who are licensed in multiple states are finding it difficult to meet the unique requirements of each individual state.

Pharmacy technician license and continuing education requirements vary widely by state, depending on whether the state requires national certification through the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board (PTCB), completion of a state board-approved or accredited pharmacy technician training program, on-the-job training, or some other measure of competence. To maintain PTCB certification, pharmacy technicians must complete specific continuing education requirements including law, patient safety, or sterile compounding, depending on their level of certification.

For over a decade, ASHP has encouraged individuals, healthcare organizations, and states to embrace continuing professional development (CPD) as a means of maintaining and demonstrating competence. CPD involves personal self-appraisal, educational plan development, plan implementation, documentation, and evaluation, and has been endorsed by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and other pharmacy organizations for use by pharmacists and pharmacy technicians. Broader adoption of CPD into state CE requirements would facilitate its use and improve pharmacy practice.