Delaware State Requirements

Note that Delaware does not license or register pharmacy technicians. You can begin working as a pharmacy technician without applying to the Delaware Board of Pharmacy. However, required employer-directed training must begin immediately upon employment, and a technician in training may work only after training has commenced.

Delaware recognizes two principal technician levels: pharmacy technician and certified pharmacy technician. A certified pharmacy technician has passed the PTCB examination or another national certification examination approved by the Board. Delaware also permits a technician who completes a Board-approved training program to perform most certified-technician functions within the approved facility, but that approval is not transferable to another workplace.

Delaware does not specify a minimum age for employment as a standard pharmacy technician. National certification organizations and individual employers may set their own requirements.

Delaware does not expressly require a high school diploma, GED, or equivalent qualification for employment as a standard pharmacy technician. Applicants pursuing national certification must satisfy the eligibility requirements of the applicable certification organization.

Every pharmacy technician must successfully complete a training program. Training must begin immediately upon employment and be completed within 90 days. The pharmacist-in-charge determines the training content according to the pharmacy setting and the technician’s assigned responsibilities.

Required training must address areas appropriate to the technician’s responsibilities, including drug and dosage-form knowledge, medical terminology, pharmaceutical calculations, prescription labeling, filling and dispensing responsibilities, patient profiles, counseling requirements, confidentiality, safety, inventory functions, and applicable state and federal laws.

The pharmacy must include the general training program in its policies and procedures and retain documentation showing that the pharmacy technician successfully completed and was evaluated on the required training.

National certification is not required to work as a standard pharmacy technician. It is required for recognition as a certified pharmacy technician. Delaware recognizes both PTCB and NHA national certifications.

Certified pharmacy technicians can perform certain functions not available to standard technicians, including reconstituting oral solutions, obtaining refill authorization or other nonclinical information from a prescriber, and assisting with compounding. Pharmacy technicians who complete a Board-approved facility training program can perform most of these functions only within that approved facility.

Because Delaware does not require an individual pharmacy technician application or state credential, it does not impose a Board-administered fingerprinting or criminal-background-check requirement on pharmacy technicians. Employers and national certification organizations may conduct their own screening.

There is no individual Delaware pharmacy technician application and no technician application in Delaware Professional Regulation Online Services, commonly called DELPROS. DELPROS is used for credentials that the Division of Professional Regulation issues, such as pharmacist, intern, and pharmacy-facility licenses.

Delaware does not charge a state application fee for pharmacy technicians because it does not issue them an individual registration or license. The Board’s current fee schedule does not list a pharmacy technician application fee. Separate national examination and certification fees may apply.

Standard and certified pharmacy technicians do not renew a state technician credential with Delaware. Consequently, there is no state pharmacy technician renewal date or renewal fee. Nationally certified technicians must renew their certification separately through their certifying organization.

Under 24 Del. C. § 2502(33)(h), nationally certified pharmacy technicians who have completed an accredited immunization-training program, maintain current CPR training, and notify the Delaware Board of Pharmacy may administer immunizations under a prescriber’s order or protocol to patients 3 years of age or older. Delaware Board of Pharmacy Regulation 19.2.3 additionally establishes the technician training and practice requirements. This statutory authority was added through Senate Bill 165, Chapter 169 of Volume 84 of the Laws of Delaware.

Regulation 19.2.3 continues to use the term “adult immunizations,” while the newer statute expressly authorizes qualified technicians to vaccinate patients 3 years of age and older. The current statutory language provides the broader age-based authority, although technicians and pharmacies should follow any updated Board guidance or implementing regulations.