South Carolina Pharmacist — Requirements & Free Practice
US-SC · License preparation
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Pharmacist
South Carolina license to engage in the practice of pharmacy.
Licensing authority: South Carolina Board of Pharmacy · Application information
Licensure by examination — accredited pharmacy graduate
- Applicant Type
- Graduate of a Board-recognized accredited pharmacy program seeking licensure by examination
- Practical Experience
- At least 1,500 hours, including at least 500 approved internship hours
Licensure by examination — foreign pharmacy graduate
- Applicant Type
- Foreign pharmacy graduate seeking licensure by examination
- Education Eligibility
- Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Certification required
- Practical Experience
- 1,500 hours as a licensed pharmacy intern after issuance of the intern certificate
Licensure by license transfer (reciprocity) — non foreign graduate
- Applicant Type
- Pharmacist currently licensed in another jurisdiction and initially licensed by examination
- Interview
- Board interview required
- License Standing
- Current license in good standing and other licenses not disqualifying under Section 40-43-81
- Recent Graduate Experience
- If initially licensed within the past year, 500 verified hours in retail or institutional pharmacy
- Reciprocity
- Initial licensing jurisdiction grants reciprocal license transfer to South Carolina pharmacists under like circumstances
Licensure by license transfer (reciprocity) — foreign pharmacy graduate
- Applicant Type
- Foreign pharmacy graduate currently licensed in another jurisdiction and initially licensed by examination
- Education Eligibility
- Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Certification required
- Interview
- Board interview required
- License Standing
- Current license in good standing and other licenses not disqualifying under Section 40-43-81
- Practical Experience
- 1,500 hours in the United States after issuance of the intern certificate
- Reciprocity
- Initial licensing jurisdiction grants reciprocal license transfer to South Carolina pharmacists under like circumstances
Licensure by NAPLEX score transfer — accredited pharmacy graduate
- Applicant Type
- Graduate of a Board-recognized accredited pharmacy program using NAPLEX score transfer
- Practical Experience
- At least 1,500 hours, including at least 500 approved internship hours
- Score Transfer Window
- NABP score transfer must remain valid within one year from the NAPLEX examination date
Licensure by NAPLEX score transfer — foreign pharmacy graduate
- Applicant Type
- Foreign pharmacy graduate using NAPLEX score transfer
- Education Eligibility
- Foreign Pharmacy Graduate Equivalency Certification required for the intern certificate
- Practical Experience
- 1,500 hours in the United States after issuance of the intern certificate
- Score Transfer Window
- NABP score transfer must remain valid within one year from the NAPLEX examination date
North American Pharmacist Licensure Examination
- Provider
- National Association of Boards of Pharmacy
- Format
- Computerized fixed form
- Exam questions
- 225 questions
- Time limit
- 6 hours
- Passing score
- Pass or Fail
Examination outline
Foundational Knowledge for Pharmacy Practice (25%)
- Pharmaceutical science principles and concepts
- Pharmaceutical science principles and concepts: Pharmacology
- Pharmaceutical science principles and concepts: Pharmacokinetics, pharmacodynamics, or pharmacogenomics
- Pharmaceutical science principles and concepts: Pharmaceutics
- Pharmaceutical compounding
- Pharmaceutical compounding: Nonsterile preparations
- Pharmaceutical compounding: Sterile preparations
- Pharmaceutical calculations
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Patient parameters or laboratory measures
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Quantities of drugs to be dispensed or administered
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Rates of administration
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Dose conversions
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Drug concentrations, ratio strengths, osmolarity, or osmolality
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Quantities of drugs or ingredients to be compounded
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Nutritional needs and the content of nutrient sources
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Biostatistical, epidemiological, or pharmacoeconomic measures
- Pharmaceutical calculations: Pharmacokinetic parameters
- Drug development processes (eg, clinical trial phases, emergency use authorizations)
- Research design principles and biostatistics (eg, blinding, randomization, biases, statistical tests and outcomes, ethics)
- Retrieval, assessment, and interpretation of primary, secondary, and tertiary resources
Medication Use Process (Prescribing, Transcribing and Documenting, Dispensing, Administering, and Monitoring) (25%)
- Prescriptions and medication order interpretation
- Prescriptions and medication order interpretation: Drug names and therapeutic classes
- Prescriptions and medication order interpretation: Indications, usage, and dosing regimens
- Prescriptions and medication order interpretation: Available dosage forms
- Prescriptions and medication order interpretation: Prescription regulations (eg, boxed warnings, risk evaluation and mitigation strategies)
- Prescriptions and medication order interpretation: Safety and effectiveness (eg, laboratory parameters, vital signs)
- Therapeutic substitutions (eg, formulary restrictions, therapeutic alternatives, shortages, biosimilars)
- Immunization services and documentation
- Immunization services and documentation: Indications and scheduling
- Immunization services and documentation: Contraindications and precautions
- Immunization services and documentation: Storage and handling
- Immunization services and documentation: Administration (eg, techniques, preparation, routes)
- Immunization services and documentation: Adverse reactions
- Medication handling, storage, stability, and disposal (eg, hazardous and nonhazardous drugs, controlled substances, parenteral medications, sharps handling, temperature control)
Person-Centered Assessment and Treatment Planning (40%)
- Medication history, allergy history, and reconciliation
- Health histories, screenings, and assessments
- Patient health conditions, including special populations and medication-related factors
- Patient health conditions, including special populations and medication-related factors: Signs, symptoms, and findings of medical conditions, etiology of diseases, or pathophysiology
- Patient health conditions, including special populations and medication-related factors: Appropriateness of therapy (eg, medications, immunizations, non-drug therapy, dosing, contraindications, warnings, evidence-based decision making)
- Patient health conditions, including special populations and medication-related factors: Interactions (eg, drug-drug, drug-condition, drug-food, drug-allergy, drug-laboratory)
- Patient health conditions, including special populations and medication-related factors: Errors and omissions (eg, dosing, duplication, additional therapy needed, unnecessary therapy)
- Patient health conditions, including special populations and medication-related factors: Adverse drug reactions
- Patient health conditions, including special populations and medication-related factors: Toxicologic exposures and overdoses
- Patient health conditions, including special populations and medication-related factors: Adherence
- Therapeutic monitoring, plan development, evaluation, and modifications
- Therapeutic monitoring, plan development, evaluation, and modifications: Therapeutic goals, clinical endpoints, and follow-up
- Therapeutic monitoring, plan development, evaluation, and modifications: Safety
- Therapeutic monitoring, plan development, evaluation, and modifications: Effectiveness
- Patient education
- Patient education: Lifestyle modifications and health maintenance
- Patient education: Medication use, storage, and disposal
- Patient education: Disease state management
- Over-the-counter medications and dietary supplements
- Devices to administer medications and self-monitoring tests
Professional Practice (5%)
- Adverse drug event reporting and medication error reporting (eg, MedWatch, VAERS)
- Public health initiatives and risk-prevention programs (eg, tobacco and nicotine cessation, antimicrobial stewardship, health screenings, opioid stewardship)
- Social determinants and drivers of health
- Ethical considerations (eg, informed consent, ethical principles, professional conduct and responsibility, patient confidentiality)
Pharmacy Management and Leadership (5%)
- Pharmacy operations (eg, operational planning, risk management, regulations and regulatory bodies, technology applications and informatics, error-prevention strategies, medication safety)
- Inventory and supply management (eg, drug recalls, drug shortages)
- Quality improvement activities (eg, medication use evaluation, root-cause analysis, continuous quality improvement)
- Mentorship and preceptorship (eg, providing and receiving feedback, delegation of work activities, preceptor roles)
Examination sources
- NABP NAPLEX Content Outline
Title page, effective-date subtitle
- NABP NAPLEX Content Outline
Content Domain Weights, page 3
- NABP NAPLEX test day information
Test Day Information, exam overview
- NABP NAPLEX exam results
Exam Results, opening paragraph
- NABP NAPLEX application page
Steps to Apply for the NAPLEX, step 3, Purchase the Exam
- NABP NAPLEX application page
Steps to Apply for the NAPLEX, step 4, Schedule the Exam With Pearson
Multistate Pharmacy Jurisprudence Examination
- Provider
- National Association of Boards of Pharmacy; delivered by Pearson
- Format
- Computer-adaptive selected-response examination
- Exam questions
- 120 computer-based questions
- Time limit
- 2.5 hours
- Passing score
- Minimum score of 75
Examination outline
Licensure/Personnel (22%)
- Responsibilities of the pharmacist and non-pharmacist personnel
- Qualifications, scope of duties, limitations, and restrictions of duties, or conditions to practice for pharmacists-in-charge (or equivalent) and pharmacists
- Qualifications, scope of duties, limitations, and restrictions of duties, or conditions to practice for non-pharmacist personnel
- Licensures, registrations, and certifications for pharmacists or non-pharmacist personnel
- Qualifications, examinations, internships, maintaining pharmacist competency, and renewals of licensures, registrations, or certifications
- Classifications and processes of disciplinary actions
- Reporting to and participating in programs addressing the inability to practice with reasonable skill and safety
Pharmacist Practice (33%)
- Requirements for issuing prescriptions/drug orders
- Requirements for drug uses, limitations, or restrictions
- Scope of authority, scope of practice, limitations or restrictions of practice, and valid registration of practitioners who are authorized to prescribe, dispense, or administer drugs
- Requirements for issuing non-controlled prescriptions/drug orders
- Requirements for issuing controlled prescriptions/drug orders
- Authority limitations of practitioners’ ability to authorize refills
- Conditions under which the pharmacist or non-pharmacist personnel participates in the administration of drugs in the management of patients’ therapy
- Requirements regarding counseling
- Counseling or offering to counsel
- Documenting counseling or documenting offering to counsel
- Returning or reusing drugs
- Regulations and agencies regarding pharmacy practice
- Requirements for promoting quality and safety of public health
- Protecting patient and health record confidentiality
Dispensing Requirements (24%)
- Responsibilities for determining whether prescriptions/drug orders are issued for a legitimate medical purpose, and within all applicable restrictions
- Transferring prescription/drug order information between pharmacies by authorized personnel
- Prospective drug utilization reviews
- Requirements for reporting to PMP and accessing PMP data
- Exceptions to dispensing or refilling prescriptions/drug orders
- Labeling of dispensed drugs
- Packaging of dispensed drugs
- Drug product conditions prohibiting dispensing
- Requirements for the distribution and/or dispensing of non-prescription pharmaceutical products, including controlled substances and hazardous drugs
- Dispensing or administration
- Labeling of non-prescription drugs and devices
- Packaging and repackaging of non-prescription drugs and behind-the-counter products
- Dispensing-restricted, non-prescription drugs
Pharmacy Operations (21%)
- Ordering, acquisition, and distribution of drugs, including maintenance and content of such records
- Ordering and acquisition, including the maintenance and content of such records
- Distribution, including the maintenance and content of such records
- Recordkeeping in compliance with legal requirements, including content, inventory, maintenance, storage, handling, and reporting
- Non-dispensing requirements for operations of pharmacies or practice settings
- Possession, storage, and handling of non-hazardous drugs
- Training, possession, handling, storage, and disposal of hazardous drugs
- Allowing non-pharmacist personnel access to drugs
- Requirements for conducting controlled substance inventories
- Delivery of drugs
- Conditions for permitted or mandated product selection
- Compounding sterile, nonsterile, hazardous, and non-hazardous preparations
- Centralized prescription processing or central-fill pharmacy dispensing
- Requirements for the registration, licensure, certification, or permitting of a practice setting or business entity
- Requirements for registration, license, certification, or permitting of a practice setting
- Requirements for the renewal or reinstatement of a license, registration, certificate, or permit of a practice setting
- Requirements for an inspection of a licensed, registered, certified, or permitted practice setting
- Classifications and processes of disciplinary actions that may be taken against a registered, licensed, certified, or permitted practice setting
Examination sources
- NABP MPJE Competency Statements
Scope and version notice
- NABP MPJE Competency Statements
Area 1 — Licensure/Personnel
- NABP MPJE Competency Statements
Area 2 — Pharmacist Practice
- NABP MPJE Competency Statements
Area 3 — Dispensing Requirements
- NABP MPJE Competency Statements
Area 4 — Pharmacy Operations
- NABP Take the MPJE Exam
Exam format
- South Carolina Board of Pharmacy Examination
Examination passing score
- South Carolina Pharmacist Application by Exam
Licensure by Exam Procedures and Examination Requirements, page 2
- NABP Take the MPJE Exam
Exam jurisdiction boundary