SECTION .2200 ‑ CONTINUING EDUCATION
21 NCAC 46 .2201 HOURS: RECORDS: PROVIDERS: CORRESPONDENCE: RECIPROCITY
(a) As a condition of license renewal, a pharmacist shall accumulate 15 hours of continuing education annually.
(b) Five of these continuing education hours shall be obtained through contact programs. Contact programs are those in which there is an opportunity for live two-way communication between the presenter and attendee. An online continuing education course may satisfy this contact-hour requirement provided that the continuing education course includes live two-way communication between the presenter and attendee.
(c) A pharmacist who accumulates more than the required 15 hours of continuing education in a single year may carry forward up to five surplus hours to be applied to the following year's continuing education requirements.
(d) A pharmacist shall preserve all continuing education records for three years. If a continuing education provider approved in Paragraph (f) of this Rule maintains an electronic database of all pharmacists granted continuing education credits accredited by the provider, then the storage of that information in the provider's database shall be deemed to satisfy the pharmacist's recordkeeping requirement.
(e) Upon license renewal, the pharmacist shall report continuing education hours through the Board's online license renewal portal. The Board shall require a pharmacist to submit records, reports of accredited hours and certificates of credit as part of any continuing education audit.
(f) All continuing education shall be obtained through continuing education courses accredited by the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education or the North Carolina Association of Pharmacists. Pharmacists may also acquire five hours continuing education credit for precepting, for at least 160 hours, a student enrolled in the University of North Carolina Eshelman School of Pharmacy, the Campbell University College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, the Wingate University School of Pharmacy, or the High Point University Fred Wilson School of Pharmacy as part of these schools' academic program.
(g) A pharmacist shall be exempt from the requirements of this Rule if:
(1) The pharmacist is eligible for a waiver of continuing education requirements under 21 NCAC 46 .1613; or
(2) For the entire year preceding license renewal, the pharmacist resided in another state, did not practice pharmacy in North Carolina, and satisfied the state of residence's continuing education requirements for pharmacist licensure. For the purposes of this Rule, a pharmacist's residence is determined by where the individual is a resident for state income tax purposes under G.S. 105-153.3(15).
(h) Continuing education shall not serve as a barrier to reciprocity; however, all licensees by reciprocity shall observe the continuing education standards specified in Paragraphs (a), (b), (c), (d), (e), (f), and (g) of this Rule within the first renewal period after licensure in this state.
History Note: Authority G.S. 90-85.6; 90-85.17; 90-85.18;
Eff. January 1, 1985;
Amended Eff. January 1, 2008; April 1, 2005; August 1, 2004; August 1, 1998; September 1, 1993; May 1, 1989;
Pursuant to G.S. 150B-21.3A, rule is necessary without substantive public interest Eff. October 3, 2017;
Amended Eff. August 1, 2024; January 1, 2018.