Pharmacy Technician Video Study Guide

OK, so I wanted to write a blog where I can leave all of my notes to help people who are studying for the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE by the PTCB).

I picked up a study guide to help me pass the exam, and I never stepped foot in any type of organized training class, but I passed the exam with flying colors.

I endured the studying and took the exam so I would have knowledge about the pharmacy technician training process, because I am in the midst of creating a Pharmacy Technician Training App for Android and Apple devices.....

Anywhoo...I have way too many blogs to try and keep up with in order to be effective on this one, so I 've decided to turn this blog into a video blog of sorts.

Instead of writing tons of content for this pharmacy tech blog, I plan to create a series of presentation style videos to support those who are studying for the PTCE.

The Pharmacy Technician Video Study Guide will be designed to be viewed on my YouTube Channel, but I will post the vids here as well.  The following is the first video in the series:

Intro to the Pharmacy Technician Video Study Guide

I hope you guys find it informative.  Please subscribe to my YouTube Channel to get the videos as soon as they are released.

Peace....

Apothecary Liquid Measurements

The Apothecary System is an old system for calculating drug dosages.  It has widely been replaced by the Metric System, but because some medical professionals still use the Apothecary System, a pharmacy technician will need to know these basic conversions:

60 minims	1 fluid dram
480 minims	1 fluid ounce
8 fluid drams	1 fluid ounce
16 fluid ounces	1 pint
2 pints	1 quart
4 quarts	1 gallon

A minim is basically equivalent to a drop of liquid from a standard medicine dropper.  Sixty of those drops of liquid are equivalent to one fluid dram.

Eight fluid drams (and also 480 minims) comprise one fluid ounces (oz).  In your job as a pharmacy technician, you will become very familiar with medications that are dispensed in fluid ounces.  Typically, you will see many liquid medications that range from 1 oz to 16 oz bottles.

Prescription Abbreviations (Sig Codes)

Sig codes are abbreviations that are used by healthcare professionals when writing prescriptions.  As a pharmacy technician it is crucial that you have a comprehensive understanding of all sig codes.

The flash cards below contains the most commonly used sig codes:

Choose a Study ModeScatterLearnFlashcards

Study these flash cards

Parts of a Prescription

All prescriptions have to include the following content in order to be valid:


1. The name and address of the patient, and the date
2. The symbol Rx
3. The name of the medicine, its dose form, and the
    strength of the medicine
4. Directions to the pharmacist
5. Directions to the patient
6. The prescriber’s signature
7. Refill information

Pharmacy Abbreviations - Roman Numerals

Pharmacy Technicians will need to be able to use math extensively while performing their duties. Math from basic arithmetic to basic algebra will need to be mastered in order to become proficient as an RX tech. 

Because some doctors (as well as other medical professionals with prescription writing privileges) use Roman numerals when they write prescriptions, the skilled technician will need to be able to interpret them correctly.  The table below lists the Roman numerals that you should be able to easily recognize:

I scoured Youtube to find a couple of videos that did a fairly good job of explaining Roman numerals. Two of the most helpful videos I could find are listed below.


                     (The video below provides a pictorial count of Roman numerals from 1 - 100)

(The video below provides a good base of knowledge for the rules of Roman numerals)

Top 200 Drugs - 1 - 25

As a pharmacy technician, you will be expected to know all of the top 200 drugs.  In order to make learning these brand name drugs and their generic equivalents easier, I have broken them down into segments of 25 at a time.

The following video slideshow outlines the first 25:

National Drug Code Number (NDC Number)

The National Drug Code Number is used to identify all drugs manufactured for human consumption in the United States. The Drug Listing Act of 1972 required that all manufacturers of drugs supply the Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA) with a unique number for each and every medication. 

The national drug code is a three-segmented number, and it is expected that the Pharmacy Technician will be able to understand each segment what each segment means.

Segment 1 

 XXXX(X)

The first segment (Labeler Code) can be 4 or 5 digits in length, it is assigned by the FDA, and it represents the manufacturer of the drug.

Segment 2

XXX(X)

The second segment (Product Code) can be 3 or 4 digits in length, and it represents the product strength, dosage form, and formulation.

Segment 3

XX(X)

The third segment (Package Code) can be 2 or 3 digits in length, it represents the package form and size

The National Drug Code looks something like this:

                                                            XXXX(X) XXX(X) XX(X)

When you are studying for the National Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam (PTCE or ExCPT) you will need to fully understand and be able to identify each segment.