Pharmacy Technician School - Overview of Programs

If you’re thinking about becoming a pharmacy technician, choosing the right program for you can be difficult. At Penn Foster, we do our best to help our students get the education that aligns with their goals and career aspirations. Because each program is unique and you’ll need to consider each factor carefully, we’ve outlined all the major aspects to consider between our Pharmacy Technician Professional and Pharmacy Technician Career programs below.

	Pharmacy Technician Professional	Pharmacy Technician
Candidate for ASHP/ACPE Accreditation	✔
Modeled against ASHP nationally recognized standards and regulations	✔
Prepares students to take National Certificaton exams: PTCE and ExCPT	✔	✔
Includes Certification Review Course	✔	✔
Graduates receive access to PTCE practice test ($29 value)		✔
Graduates receive PTCE exam sponsorship ($129 value)	✔	✔
Includes Practical Labs of hands-on activities to help demonstrate and apply skills learned	✔
Includes full Practice Kit of items needed to perform Practical Labs ($475 value)	✔
Students have option of eBooks or textbooks (5 books)	✔	✔
Hands-on experience through a 160-hour Externship	Required	Not Required
Includes Virtual Exercises to help in mastering skills:
Soft Skills Simulation	✔	✔
Counting Medication with Prescription Interpretation Simulation	✔	✔
Processing a Cash Transaction Simulation	✔
Preparing Medication for Automated Dispensing with Bar Coding Simulation	✔

Penn Foster’s Pharmacy Technician Professional Program is modeled against ASHP standards and requirements. It has received candidate status for the ASHP/ACPE accreditation credential. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists (ASHP) and the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education (ACPE) are the only collaboration that is nationally recognized and non-governmental that accredits pharmacy education & training programs in the U.S. ASHP/ACPE-accredited pharmacy technician training is now required or strongly encouraged by several state Boards of Pharmacy. More and more students are looking to find programs that fulfill this requirement. ASHP-accreditation is retroactive once received, meaning Penn Foster students who enroll and graduate from this program that has “candidate” status, will be able to state they graduated from an ASHP-accredited program once full accreditation is received. Application for accreditation does not guarantee accreditation.

The Technician Career program is a diploma program offered by Penn Foster Career school is nationally accredited by the DEAC. It is regionally accredited by Commission on Secondary Schools of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools.

Pharmacy Technician School - Overview of Programs

Accreditation Details