PTCB Pharmacy Technician Certification Prep for Success

Explore how drugs move through the body and produce effects, covering absorption, distribution, metabolism, elimination, first-pass effect, half-life, and receptor interactions including agonists and antagonists.

Explore chronic disease pharmacology across heart, respiratory, endocrine, gastrointestinal, CNS, and bone and joints, covering antihypertensives, diuretics, statins, bronchodilators, metformin, insulin, levothyroxine, PPIs, NSAIDs, and bisphosphonates.

Explore anti-infectives and biological agents, including antibiotics, antivirals, vaccines, antifungals, and monoclonal antibodies, and master dispensing, patient counseling on completing therapy, and cold-chain storage at 36 to 46 degrees Fahrenheit.

Guide patients through over-the-counter medications and herbal supplements. Explain FDA regulation and drug/supplement facts labels, and assess safety and interactions behind the counter and DSHEA rules.

Learn the metric, apothecary, and household systems to perform pharmacy math accurately; convert grams, litres, milligrams, micrograms, and use safe conversions with prefixes to prevent dosing errors.

Learn to calculate medication concentrations using ratios, proportions, and percentage strengths, converting between weight-in-volume, weight-in-weight, and volume-in-volume measurements to ensure accurate dosing.

Learn to calculate dosages and concentrations accurately using the dose over concentration formula, match units, apply weight-based pediatric dosing, and ensure correct days supply and safe compounding.

Learn to calculate IV infusion flow rate in milliliters per hour and drops per minute using drop factors, ensuring accurate dosing, safe administration, and proactive workflow planning.

learn how non-sterile compounding creates custom medications with strict usp-795 standards, using mortar and pestle, balances, and spatulas to ensure accurate dosing and quality control.

Master USP 797 sterile compounding standards to prevent contamination in ISO class 5 environments, using LAFW and HEPA filtration with aseptic technique and risk-based beyond use rates.

Apply aseptic technique to prevent contamination during sterile compounding by protecting critical sites, mastering hood airflow, practicing rigorous hand hygiene, sanitizing gloves, and ensuring final inspection and proper labeling.

Identify hazardous drugs using the NIOSH groups 1–3 and apply USP 800 handling standards. Ensure storage, compounding, and disposal with negative‑pressure rooms, casse with HEPA, CSTDs, and PPE.

Implement checks from prescription to dispensing to prevent medication errors using tall man lettering and look-alike drug awareness. Use barcoding, one-at-a-time workflows, clean workspaces, and near-miss reporting to strengthen safety.

Learn how high-alert medications require extra caution to prevent harm, apply look-alike/sound-alike controls with Tollman lettering, barcode/NDC verification, and independent double checks for safety.

Ensure daily safety and legal compliance through continuous quality improvement and patient safety audits, with technicians monitoring expiration dates, temperatures, and medication utilization to prevent errors.

Identify adverse drug reactions, distinguish them from side effects, check patient allergies, and report serious events to the pharmacist and MedWatch, with precise documentation in the record.

Balance pharmacy stock through inventory procurement using par levels, fifo rotation, and monthly reviews, while verifying deliveries against the packing slip, managing expirations, back orders, and recalls to protect patients.

Master how pharmacy insurance and reimbursements flow through PBMs, formulary decisions, and adjudication. Learn to verify BIN, PCN, group, and member IDs to process claims.

Gather patient details and verify legal prescriptions to start the pharmacy workflow, then enter orders, check for interactions, translate the sig into clear directions, and prepare for adjudication and filling.