Credentialing Guidelines and Requirements

Scope

PTCB Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Certificate holders have demonstrated their knowledge of controlled substances diversion strategies and DEA requirements.

Eligibility Requirements

A candidate must hold an active PTCB CPhT Certification and complete a PTCB-Recognized Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Education/Training Program.

Exam

Candidates are required to pass the Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Exam to earn the PTCB Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Certificate. The Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Exam is a computer-based exam with 60 multiple-choice questions. Be prepared to commit 1 hour and 30 minutes for the exam (5-minute tutorial, 1 hour and 20-minute exam, and 5-minute post-exam survey).

Exam Content Outline

The Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Exam covers several knowledge areas organized into four domains, as shown in the following table.

Controlled Substance Diversion (9%)

Consequences of diversion (e.g., infection risks to patients, organizational liability, fines/indictments, fraud charges, loss of job and/or license)

Signs of impaired health-care workers (e.g., mood changes, agitation, dilated pupils, sudden declines in job performance)

Motivations to divert CS (e.g., addiction, financial gain, recreation)

Controlled Substance Diversion Prevention Program (30%)

Areas of vulnerability in procurement, preparation and dispensing, prescribing, administration, and waste/removal processes

Elements of a comprehensive and effective controlled substances diversion prevention program (CSDPP)

Types and functions of security control measures, devices, and software to detect and prevent diversion (e.g., locking storage, cameras, ADCs, analytics software)

High risk areas of the pharmacy (e.g., anesthesia area, CS vault, IV room, will call, receiving)

Chain of custody methods (e.g., regulation of access control, presence of witnesses for signing delivery sheets, use of tamper-evident containers)

DEA Requirements (37%)

DEA registration requirements (e.g. power of attorney, renewal)

Procedures to validate DEA numbers (e.g., formula and component parts of the DEA number)

Contents, appropriate usage, and record keeping for DEA form 222

DEA Controlled Substance Ordering System (CSOS)

Contents, appropriate usage, and record keeping for DEA form 41

Contents, appropriate usage, and record keeping for DEA form 106

Knowledge of DEA scheduled medications and which are at high risk for diversion

DEA requirements for conducting physical inventories and record keeping

Contents, appropriate usage, and record keeping for DEA form 107

Actions to take during a robbery or theft event

Procedures for sales of CS and restricted OTCs (e.g., pseudoephedrine)

Surveillance and investigation (22%)

Suspicious data patterns (e.g., waste buddy, night shift sedation, cancel removes, pocket inventory, anomalous usage)

Surveillance practices and techniques (e.g., reconciliation of invoices to purchase history reports, check list to verify all paperwork is complete, records audits)

Signs of product tampering and/or alteration (e.g., vials tops that don’t twist easily, chipped tablets, drug assay sampling)

Signs of and methods to detect fraudulent prescriptions

Exam Passing Score

A panel of subject-matter experts established a passing score for the Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Exam using industry best practices. The method used by the panel, as directed by a psychometrician, is the modified-Angoff method. This method requires experts (panel members) to evaluate individual test questions and estimate the percentage of qualified pharmacy technicians that would be able to answer each question correctly. These estimates were analyzed for consistency and averaged to produce the passing score. The passing score and candidate results are reported as scaled scores. The passing scaled score for the Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Exam is 300. The range of possible scores is 0 to 400.

ADVANCED CERTIFIED PHARMACY TECHNICIAN CREDENTIAL

Earning your Controlled Substances Diversion Prevention Certificate takes you one step closer to becoming a PTCB Advanced Certified Pharmacy Technician (CPhT-Adv). Active PTCB CPhTs who have completed at least four of the certificate programs, or three certificate programs and the Compounded Sterile Preparation Technician (CSPT) Certification, and 3 years of work experience will be eligible to earn a CPhT-Adv credential.