College of Pharmacy Licensure

Currently, to become a registered pharmacist in Utah, a student must graduate with a Pharm.D. degree from an ACPE accredited school or college of pharmacy, complete 1,500 hours of internship, and pass the North American Pharmacy Licensing Exam (NAPLEX) and federal and State law examinations. The pass rate for University of Utah graduates taking these exams for the first time is close to 100%. Students may apply for an interns license after completing the first semester of the Professional Program. Nine hundred hours of the required 1,500 are obtained completing the clinical clerkships in the Professional Program. The remaining 600 hours are obtained working under a licensed preceptor.

State of Utah Requirements for Licensure

• 58-17b-307. Qualification for licensure -- Criminal background checks.

1. An applicant for licensure under this chapter shall submit fingerprint cards in a form acceptable to the division at the time the license application is filed and shall consent to a fingerprint background check by the Utah Bureau of Criminal Identification and the Federal Bureau of Investigation regarding the application.
2. The division shall request the Department of Public Safety to complete a Federal Bureau of Investigation criminal background check for each applicant through the National Criminal History System (NCIC) or any successor system.
3. If convicted of one or more felonies, an applicant must receive an absolute discharge from the sentences for all felony convictions five or more years prior to the date of filing an application for licensure under this chapter.
4. For purposes of conducting the criminal background check required in Subsection (1), the division shall have direct access to criminal background information maintained pursuant to Title 53, Chapter 10, Part 2, Bureau of Criminal Identification.
5. Any new pharmacist, pharmacy intern, or pharmacy technician license issued under this section shall be conditional, pending completion of the criminal background check. Notwithstanding Title 63, Chapter 46b, Administrative Procedures Act, if the criminal background check discloses the applicant has failed to accurately disclose a criminal history, the license shall be immediately and automatically revoked upon notice to the licensee.
6. Any person whose conditional license has been revoked under Subsection (5) shall be entitled to a postrevocation hearing to challenge the revocation. The hearing shall be conducted in accordance with Title 63, Chapter 46b, Administrative Procedures Act.