The Pharmacy Examining Board of Canada (PEBC), established by an Act of Parliament in 1963, is the national certification body for the profession of

pharmacy Pharmacy is the science and practice of discovering, producing, preparing, dispensing, reviewing and monitoring medications, aiming to ensure the safe, effective, and affordable use of medicines. It is a miscellaneous science as it links heal ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. It currently assesses the qualifications of 2 pharmacy professional candidates seeking licensure -

pharmacists A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

and

pharmacy technician A pharmacy technician performs pharmacy-related functions, working collaboratively with a licensed pharmacist. Training, certification, licensing, and actual practice of pharmacy technicians varies not only worldwide but in some countries regional ...

s, on behalf the pharmacy regulatory authorities (PRAs) of all

provinces A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire's territorial possessions outsi ...

except

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, and the Certificate of Qualification issued by the PEBC is a requirement to license in all provinces except Quebec. In Quebec, the Ordre des pharmaciens du Quebec conducts its own assessments of qualifications of applicants seeking licensure as a

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

History

On December 21, 1963, royal assent was granted to a Canadian Act of Parliament incorporating the PEBC. This Act recognized the Board’s purposes of establishing qualifications for pharmacists acceptable to participating licensing bodies and of providing fair and equitable examinations for the issuance of certificates of qualification and registration of successful applicants.

Pharmacists

International Pharmacy Graduates (IPGs)

Pharmacists who obtained their pharmaceutical education outside

or the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, who wish to practice pharmacy in a

province A province is almost always an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman ''Roman province, provincia'', which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire ...

(except

), are required to undergo a three-step assessment process whereby the PEBC evaluates the credentials of the applicant.

Document Evaluation

Document evaluation is the first step of the PEBC certification process for an IPG. The applicant is required to submit foreign pharmacy education credentials to the PEBC, whereby PEBC determines whether the education is equivalent to the education received by a pharmacy graduate in Canada. If this step is favourably completed, the applicant will be eligible to write the Pharmacist Evaluating Examination. If the PEBC deems the pharmaceutical education to be not equivalent, a full 4-year pharmacy program at a Canadian university is required should the applicant want to continue pursue licensure as a pharmacist.

Pharmacist Evaluating Examination

The Pharmacist Evaluating Examination is a multiple-choice exam that tests the knowledge of various areas of pharmacy included in a Canadian pharmacy education curriculum. The pass mark is 60, and applicant have 3 attempts to complete this exam. If an applicant fails the third attempt, he/she may file a petition for a fourth attempt after remediation. If an applicant is unsuccessful at the fourth attempt, the PEBC does not permit any additional attempts, and the applicant will not be able to move forward toward the PEBC certification process.

Pharmacist Qualifying Examination

After an applicant successfully completes the Pharmacist Evaluating Examination, he/she will be eligible to write the Pharmacist Qualifying Examination, which is the same exam required for domestic and U.S. graduates who wish to seek certification.

Domestic and U.S. Graduates

Domestic and U.S. graduates of a pharmacy program accredited by the CCAPP or ACPE respectively, are eligible to take the Pharmacist Qualifying Examination, and upon successful completion, will be issued a Certificate of Qualification. The Pharmacist Qualifying Examination has evolved considerably since the inception of the PEBC, and currently consists of 2 Parts: Part I (MCQ) and Part II (OSCE). Part I (MCQ) is a 200-question multiple-choice exam taken on two half-day sittings. Part II (OSCE) is an

objective structured clinical examination An objective structured clinical examination (OSCE) is an approach to the assessment of clinical competence in which the components are assessed in a planned or structured way with attention being paid to the objectivity of the examination which i ...

whereby candidates rotate through a series of stations and are required to complete station-specific tasks. The station scenarios reflect common and critical practice scenarios, and candidates are required to solve station-specific problems in a manner reflecting real world practice.

Pharmacy Technicians

References

{{Reflist Pharmacy in Canada Government agencies established in 1963 Medical and health regulators