The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada

Providing Excellence in Certification for the Pharmacy Profession

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For information on pharmacists, please visit PEBC's Website for Pharmacists.   

The Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination

The Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination NEW!

Examination Name	Examination Date(s)	Examination Centres	Application Deadline Date
Summer Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination	Sat. Aug. 28 (MCQ)	British Columbia: Vancouver Alberta: Edmonton Ontario: London, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa	Fri. June 4, 2010
	Sun. Aug. 29 (OSPE)
Fall Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination	Sat. Sept. 18, 2010	British Columbia: Victoria, Vancouver, Kamloops, Prince George Alberta:  Calgary, Edmonton, Red Deer Ontario:  North Bay, Thunder Bay, Windsor, London, Sudbury, Waterloo, Hamilton, Toronto, Kingston, Ottawa Nova Scotia:  Halifax Newfoundland:  St. John’s, Cornerbrook, Grand Falls	Mon. June 28, 2010

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The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC) is the national certification body for the pharmacy profession in Canada. PEBC is a non-profit organization with more than 40 years of experience in assessing the qualifications and competence of candidates for licensing by pharmacy provincial regulatory authorities. This national, standardized assessment process ensures that entry-level pharmacists and pharmacy technicians have the necessary professional knowledge, skills, and abilities to practise safely and effectively. To that end, the PEBC develops and administers a national Qualifying Examination and awards certificates of qualification to those applicants who pass this Qualifying Examination.

After successfully piloting the Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination in August 2009 in Ontario and in March 2010 in Alberta and Ontario, the national Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination will be administered at multiple sites across Canada commencing August 2010.

The major objectives of the Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination Pilot were:

•	To develop, pilot and research the validity and reliability of an examination that would assess the knowledge, skills and abilities required of entry-to-practice pharmacy technicians. Such an examination would include the assessment of communication and interpersonal skills, and ethical and professional judgement.
•	To develop a comprehensive national examination process (including written and performance-based components) to assess the competence of pharmacy technicians for the purpose of registration of pharmacy technicians.
•	To develop a national certification program to enable both the recognition and the transfer of pharmacy technician credentials among different jurisdictions.

The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada administers a national entry-to-practice Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination for the assessment and certification of the competence of Pharmacy Technicians. The Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination consists of two parts: a written multiple choice question examination (MCQ) and a performance-based examination, called an Objective Structured Performance Examination (OSPE).  

An examination blueprint has been developed to determine the content of the Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination. The blueprint is based on the “National Association of Pharmacy Regulatory Authorities’ (NAPRA) “Professional Competencies for Canadian Pharmacy Technicians at Entry-to-Practice”. These competencies can be found on NAPRA’s website: www.napra.ca.

Summer 2010 Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination:
Saturday, August 28, 2010 (Part I- MCQ) and Sunday, August 29, 2010 (Part II- OSPE)
at selected locations in Canada.

The following diagram outlines the eligibility criteria for direct entry into the Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination, and the eligibility criteria for indirect entry into the Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination through the Evaluating Examination.  

⇒Eligibility for direct admission into the Pharmacy Technician Qualifying Examination is as follows:

Graduation from a Canadian pharmacy technician education program that, at the time of the applicant’s graduation, was accredited by the Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs* (i.e., graduating 2008 or later from an accredited program that has achieved either provisional [the initial CCAPP step for existing programs] or full accreditation status);

OR

Successful standing and status, gained up to and including December 31, 2008, in the Ontario College of Pharmacists (OCP) Pharmacy Technician Certification Examination;     

OR

Successful standing and status, gained up to and including June 30, 2008, in the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board of Alberta (PTCB-AB) Pharmacy Technician Certification Examination;

OR

Successful completion of the PEBC Pharmacist Evaluating Examination;

OR

Successful completion of an accredited pharmacist degree program in Canada or the United States

* The Canadian Council for Accreditation of Pharmacy Programs (CCAPP) initiated an accreditation process for pharmacy technician educational programs in 2008. The CCAPP accreditation process is designed to evaluate programs according to the “Standards for Accreditation of Pharmacy Technician Programs”. For more information please visit the CCAPP website: www.ccapp-accredit.ca

⇒Eligibility through achieving successful standing in the Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination is as follows below:

PEBC Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination

Pharmacy technicians who are currently in the profession (graduates of programs prior to, or without CCAPP accreditation [including programs which received a deferred accreditation status]; or on-the-job trained) must successfully complete the PEBC Evaluating Examination to be eligible to apply for the Qualifying Examination. All Canadian pharmacy technicians currently in the profession must pass the PEBC Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination by Dec 31, 2015 to be eligible to apply for the Qualifying Examination (Please note that the timelines may be earlier for an individual provincial regulatory authority).  After this time, only Canadian graduates of a CCAPP accredited program will be eligible to apply for the Qualifying Examination.

PEBC Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination Eligibility Criteria

As shown in the preceding diagram, eligibility criteria for admission into the PEBC Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination includes: completion of 2,000 hours of work and/or teaching experience in Canada in the past 36 months in the field of pharmacy. (Criteria for the field of pharmacy are defined in more specific detail here: Click on this link for criteria for the field of pharmacy defined in more specific detail as shown below.). If you have completed any or all of your 2,000 hours of work experience outside of Canada, please contact PEBC at pebcinfo@pebc.ca.

Examination Date for the Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination

The dates for the 2010 Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination are as follows:

Fall 2010 Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination: 
⇒Saturday, September 18, 2010 at selected locations in Canada.

Further information on the Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination including the application form, application deadline examination fee and examination sites is available in the Information Booklet for the Pharmacy Technician Evaluating Examination. 

NOTE:  It is important to confirm the regulatory requirements in specific provinces by contacting the individual provincial regulatory authorities that are proceeding with the regulation of pharmacy technicians. Some provinces may require completion of approved bridging programs along with other requirements.

Pharmacy Technician candidates can be permitted to take the Evaluating Examination by providing evidence of a minimum of 2,000 hours of work and/or teaching experience in the past 36 months in the field of pharmacy.

“Pharmacy technicians work in a wide variety of practice sites including those in community pharmacy and pharmacies in hospitals or other health care institutions such as a long-term care facility. With experience or further education, pharmacy technicians may be employed in education, research, consulting and family health centres, and pharmaceutical and third party insurance corporations.” (NAPRA: Professional Competencies for Canadian Pharmacy Technicians at Entry to Practice”)

The following criteria are proposed to define the “field of pharmacy”.

The field of pharmacy includes practice where some of the following tasks are performed:

	Prescription and patient information processing
•	Creating and maintaining patient records
•	Receiving and transferring prescriptions or requests for prescription refills, including assessing prescriptions for clarity, completeness, authenticity and legal requirements
•	Preparing products for release and/or distribution, including:
	°	Product selection
	°	Retrieving, counting, pouring, weighing, measuring, compounding and reconstituting sterile and non-sterile products
	°	Packaging products to maintain integrity, including selecting type of prescription container, prepackaging medications and affixing prescription and auxiliary labels
•	Releasing and distributing products in a manner that ensures patient safety
	Other related pharmacy services
•	Generating patient care data (i.e., medication administration record, medication review)
•	Managing systems for drug distribution and inventory control to ensure patient safety and the safety, accuracy, quality, integrity and timeliness of the products, including:
	°	Determining and maintaining inventory requirements
	°	Auditing inventory and documenting discrepancies for narcotic, controlled, and targeted-controlled substances
•	Maintaining drug information files
•	Maintaining packaging and dispensing equipment and storage facilities
•	Replenishing medications for nursing units, night cupboards, emergency boxes and cardiac arrest kits
	Communication and Education
•	Communicating with patients, patient’s agents, pharmacists, other pharmacy technicians and other members of the health care team, and educating, where appropriate, in order to promote and support optimal patient care and well-being.
	Professional Collaboration and Teamwork
•	Working in collaborative relationships within health care teams to optimize patient safety and improve health outcomes.
	Management
•	Managing operations, administrative activities, and financial elements associated with the processing of prescriptions.
	Quality Assurance
•	Collaborating in developing, implementing and evaluating quality assurance and risk management policies, procedures, and activities related to the safe use of medications and the safety and integrity of pharmaceutical products.

Note:
These criteria are adapted from NAPRA’s Professional Competencies for Canadian Pharmacy Technicians at Entry to Practice” and eligibility criteria for admission into the OCP Pharmacy Technician Certification Examination.

Apr 2010