I am a nationally certified pharmacy technician who has spent years working in pharmacy settings that demand accuracy, accountability, and constant learning. Like many technicians in Alabama, I take my professional responsibility seriously. I maintain national certification, complete required continuing education, and stay current on pharmacy law and patient safety because patients depend on us to get it right.

Yet every renewal cycle, I find myself struggling not with the content of continuing education, but with the format required by Alabama.

Currently, Alabama requires pharmacy technicians to complete six continuing education hours per renewal cycle, including two hours that must be completed as live instruction. While live CE may be completed virtually, it cannot be pre-recorded. All CE must be ACPE-accredited or Board-approved.

As someone who already completes twenty hours of ACPE-accredited continuing education to maintain certification through the Pharmacy Technician Certification Board, this requirement feels disconnected from the realities of our profession. PTCB requires nationally certified technicians to complete extensive continuing education, including mandatory hours in pharmacy law and patient safety. Importantly, PTCB does not require any CE hours to be live. National standards prioritize educational quality, relevance, and patient safety, not the delivery format.

For many of us, finding live CE is not about unwillingness to learn. It is about limited access. Technicians work rotating shifts, nights, weekends, multiple jobs, and often live in rural areas where live offerings are scarce. Some of us balance caregiving responsibilities, health issues, or long commutes. When we already meet national certification standards, being required to hunt down live CE becomes an unnecessary barrier rather than a meaningful safeguard.

This issue is not unique to one technician. It is shared quietly across pharmacies throughout Alabama. Technicians talk about scrambling before renewal deadlines, paying extra fees, rearranging work schedules, or attending board meetings solely to satisfy a live-hour requirement, not because the education itself is lacking, but because the format is mandated.

We, the undersigned pharmacy technicians and supporters of the profession in Alabama, respectfully request that the Alabama State Board of Pharmacy review and modernize its continuing education requirements for pharmacy technicians.

Specifically, we ask the Board to consider the following actions:

• Allow nationally certified pharmacy technicians to satisfy Alabama CE requirements without a separate live CE mandate
• Accept ACPE-accredited asynchronous CE as meeting the intent of the live requirement
• Align Alabama technician CE requirements with national certification standards

Modernizing this requirement would not lower standards or compromise patient safety. Instead, it would recognize the professionalism of Alabama’s pharmacy technicians, reduce unnecessary barriers, and support retention in a workforce that is already under strain.

If you are a pharmacy technician who has faced these same challenges, this petition is for you. Your experience matters, and your voice deserves to be heard.