How to Become a Pharmacy Technician in North Carolina

Who can apply

• Non-certified technician: have a high school diploma or equivalent, or be enrolled in a program leading to one, and be employed by a permitted North Carolina pharmacy.
• Certified technician: hold current PTCB or NHA ExCPT certification. You may register before you have a pharmacy job.
• You must not have done anything that is grounds to deny registration, such as a drug-related felony or making false statements on the application (G.S. 90-85.15A(d)).
• Registrations from other states do not transfer to North Carolina.

Step by step

1. Get hired by a pharmacist-manager. The manager must notify the Board within 21 days of your start date.
2. Complete the pharmacy's training program; it must be finished within 180 days of your start date (certified technicians are deemed to have met this).
3. Create an NABP e-Profile number.
4. Create a profile on the Board's Licensure Gateway and submit the Technician Registration application with the $30 fee, a current photo, the pharmacy permit number and, if certified, your PTCB or ExCPT verification.
5. Register within 30 days after finishing training. The Board says that in practice a non-certified technician should register within 21 days of employment.
6. Wait for the Board's email confirming your registration is issued (3-5 business days).
7. Renew every year between November 1 and December 31.

Official application →

Training and exam

Training: Non-certified technicians must complete a training program from the supervising pharmacist-manager covering pharmacy terminology, calculations, dispensing systems and labeling, pharmacy law, record keeping and drug handling and storage, within 180 days of starting work (G.S. 90-85.15A(b)). No hour count is set. PTCB- or ExCPT-certified technicians are deemed to have met this requirement.

Exam: North Carolina has no state exam and does not require national certification. If you hold PTCB or NHA ExCPT certification you can register as a certified technician, even before you are employed.

What it costs in North Carolina

Fixed amounts are set by the state. Items marked “your quote” are priced by private sellers, so enter what you’re quoted.

How long it takes

The Board of Pharmacy asks applicants to allow 3-5 business days for staff to review and process a technician registration application.

Once you're registered

Renewal: Registrations expire December 31 every year and are renewed online from November 1 to December 31 for $30. The Board allows a 60-day period, until March 1, to renew without penalty; working more than 60 days after expiration without renewing is unlawful, and after that you must reinstate ($60). The Board requires no CE for registered or certified technicians, but certified technicians must show current certification each year. Non-certified technicians must be working in a pharmacy to renew.

Good to know in North Carolina

Certified technicians must report new jobs: A certified technician must already be registered when hired and must notify the Board within 10 days of starting work in a pharmacy.

Supervision ratio: A pharmacist may supervise no more than two technicians unless the Board approves more in writing, and any extra technicians must be certified.

Students: Technician-program students in a pharmacy only for their education do not register. A student who is also employed by the pharmacy must register. Pharmacy school students register as interns instead.

Free clinics: Technicians who work only at a free clinic must still register and train but pay no fee.

Sources

• NC Board of Pharmacy - Pharmacy Technician
• NC Board of Pharmacy - Renewal (Technician Renewal FAQs)
• N.C. Gen. Stat. 90-85.15A - Pharmacy technicians
• 21 NCAC 46 .3301 - Registration
• PTCB - Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT) and PTCE fee