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How to renew your NHA CPhT certification
Recertification ensures high standards of practice for pharmacy technicians, and encourages participation in continuing education to promote safe and effective patient care.
Requirements:
Because of the rapid changes in health care, new drug treatments, and technology, pharmacy technicians must keep up to date. Your NHA CPhT certification must be renewed every 2 years to stay current. It costs $55 every two years to renew your certification with NHA. During the two-year period prior to recertification, certified pharmacy technicians must:
- Participate in at least 20 hours of continuing education (CE)
- At least one hour of the 20 hours must be in Pharmacy Law
- At least one hour of the 20 hours must be in Patient Safety
How to Stay Current
NHA standards require each certified pharmacy technician complete at least 20 continuing education (CE) hours every two years to maintain certification.
- Log in to your nhanow.com account ‣
Select “My CE Portfolio” on your dashboard
Select “Add External CE Items”
Document 20 continuing education hours (one in Pharmacy Law and one in Patient Safety)*
Apply the CE hours to your certification(s)
Pay your recertification fee
*Note: Your 20 hours of CE will show as 10 credits in your NHA account.
"Renewing your certification is the best thing that you could do in order to advance in your career and feel accomplished"
— Current NHA certificate holder
CPhT Certification Reinstatement
Let your certification expire? You have options.
Less than One Year
If your certification expired less than a year ago, you are eligible to reinstate.
More than One Year
If your certification has been expired for more than one year, you must retake the certification exam.
How to Stay Current
To reinstate your certification status:
- Complete at least 20 hours of continuing education (CE), including at least one hour of pharmacy law and one hour of patient safety.
- Add external CE hours.
- Apply CE hours and pay the fee online.
-
Log in to your nhanow.com account ‣
Select “My CE Portfolio” on your dashboard
Select “Add External CE Items”
Document 20 continuing education hours (one in Pharmacy Law and one in Patient Safety)*
Apply the CE hours to your certification(s)
Pay your recertification fee and reinstatement fee
Reinstatement is not available if your certificate has been expired for more than 12 months.
*Note: Your 20 hours of CE will show as 10 credits in your NHA account.
Continuing Education for NHA Certified Pharmacy Technicians
Continuing education helps you maintain a high level of knowledge and skill in pharmacy practice. During the two-year period prior to recertification, certified pharmacy technicians must participate in at least 20 hours of continuing education (CE), including at least one hour of pharmacy law and one hour of patient safety.
Pharmacy Technician Continuing Education Topics
To be approved, CE credit must be related to pharmacy technician practice. Your submitted credits must include at least one hour of pharmacy law and one hour of patient safety per two-year certification period.
Acceptable topics include, but are not limited to:
- Drug distribution
- Managed health care
- Therapeutic issues
- Communications
- Pharmacy operations
- Calculations
- Drug repackaging
- Inventory control
- Drug products
- Patient interaction
- Interpersonal skills
- Prescription compounding
- Patient safety (at least one hour required)
- Pharmacy law (at least one hour required)
- Preparation of sterile products
- Live presentations
- Internet courses
- Correspondence courses
- Workshops
- In-service training programs
- Computer-assisted instruction
- Journal articles with a CE test
- Audio or video recordings with a CE test
NHA reserves the right to reject credits not deemed applicable to pharmacy technician practice.
How to Earn Pharmacy Technician Continuing Education Credits
There are many ways to complete your continuing education (CE) credits.
CE programs offered by national and state pharmacy associations and pharmacy technician associations will generally be acceptable if related to pharmacy technician practice.
Additionally, pharmacy technician CE programs offered by private providers such as Powerpak, and Pharmacy Technician's Letter, are also acceptable.
NOTE: For every two-year renewal period, you must complete at least one hour of pharmacy law and one hour of patient safety.
In-Service Training
The CPhT Continuing Education Form can be used to document your completion of in-service training programs or projects.
In-service training programs may be:
- CE programs for which you do not have a Certificate of Participation
- Other training or projects completed under the supervision of a pharmacist in which you developed new knowledge or skills to improve your abilities as a pharmacy technician
Your supervising pharmacist must complete and sign the ExCPT Continuing Education Form for you to receive credit. A maximum of 10 hours of CE is allowed using the ExCPT Continuing Education Form.
NOTE: For every two-year renewal period, you must complete at least one hour of pharmacy law and one hour of patient safety.
College Courses
Any college course in the following topics will be accepted:
- Mathematics
- Life sciences
- Pharmaceutical sciences
Applicable college courses with a grade of "C" or better also are eligible for CE credit at the rate of 15 CE hours for each 3 credit-hour course offered on a semester basis (i.e., three hours a week for 15 weeks). Courses offered on a quarterly basis will be credited for 15 hours for a 4 credit-hour course (i.e., four hours per week for approximately 11 weeks). A college transcript is an acceptable Certificate of Participation.
NOTE: The maximum number of CE credits earned through college courses during a two-year period is 15.
Certificates of Participation
Certificates of Participation must be obtained for each CE program.
This certificate must include:
- Participant's name
- Date of the program
- Name of the sponsor*
- Program title and number of contact hours
- Signature of a person responsible for the program
If the CE provider is accredited by the American Council on Pharmaceutical Education (ACPE), the ACPE program number also should be included. ACPE accreditation of the program provider is not mandatory to receive continuing education credit. Please note that ACPE accredits CE providers and is not a CE provider. ACPE should not be listed as the name of the sponsor.
Audits
NHA randomly audits recertification submissions. If you are selected for an audit, NHA does not charge certification holders a fee for being audited. Audit applications not completed correctly, however, will be returned and will require a $10 reapplication fee. We recommend that you keep copies of your continuing education Certificates of Participation for at least 1 year after your certification expiration date.