Prove your competency with confidence.
Build the knowledge and practical skills required to select media, review incubation requirements, identify contamination, interpret samples and accurately count colony-forming units.
Competency one
Learn how media selection, incubation and visible growth affect the interpretation of environmental monitoring and aseptic technique assessment samples.
Recognize contaminated and non-contaminated samples
Apply media and incubation requirements
Interpret and document sample results
Competency two
Develop a structured method for recognizing colony morphology, evaluating complex agar plates and producing more consistent colony counts.
Identify colonies based on morphology
Count isolated, clustered and overlapping colonies
Analyze and interpret colony count results
Built for your responsibilities
Select your role to see how this training supports the decisions, documentation and competency responsibilities most relevant to your work.
For pharmacy technicians
Develop a consistent process for reviewing culture media, recognizing growth and accurately counting colony-forming units.
Read media fill and gloved fingertip samples
Recognize contaminated and non-contaminated samples
Count colonies on agar plates
Record and communicate results
How the course helps
Practice with realistic examples before demonstrating competency through the final assessment.
For pharmacists and designated persons
Strengthen the knowledge needed to review sample results, evaluate employee competency and support documented pass-or-fail decisions.
Review employee sample interpretations
Evaluate media fill and GFT outcomes
Make documented pass-or-fail decisions
Maintain training and competency records
How the course helps
Use expert-validated examples and structured criteria to reduce subjective interpretation.
For quality managers
Support a standardized approach to culture media interpretation, colony counting and competency documentation across the organization.
Standardize interpretation criteria
Identify training and documentation gaps
Monitor competency completion
Support inspection readiness
How the course helps
Use a structured online program to support repeatable training, assessment and completion records.
Course learning objectives
Develop the knowledge and practical judgment required to select, incubate, interpret and accurately enumerate culture media samples.
Competency track one
Understand the media, incubation conditions and evidence used to evaluate sample results.
Understand what nutrient media is, how it supports microbial growth and why it is used during personnel assessment and environmental monitoring.
Recognize how media characteristics affect microbial recovery and final interpretation.
Understand the purpose of nutrient media
Connect media characteristics to microbial growth
Support reliable sample interpretation
Understand how sample type, testing purpose and recovery requirements influence the selection of suitable culture media.
Connect media selection with media fills, GFT samples and viable environmental monitoring.
Identify commonly used media
Match media with sample purpose
Reduce avoidable interpretation errors
Understand how incubation time, temperature and sequence influence microbial growth and the reliability of the final result.
Apply the required incubation conditions before interpreting culture media.
Understand incubation conditions
Recognize why time and temperature matter
Avoid premature sample interpretation
Review media fill, gloved fingertip and viable sampling results systematically after incubation.
Use visible growth, media appearance and sample context to support an interpretation.
Identify visible microbial growth
Differentiate contaminated and clear samples
Document the final interpretation
Competency track two
Recognize colony-forming units, compare morphology and accurately count complex plates.
Understand what a colony-forming unit represents and how microbial growth develops into visible colonies.
Use CFU principles when reviewing GFT and viable sampling plates.
Understand the CFU formation process
Relate colonies to viable microorganisms
Interpret growth on agar plates
Differentiate colonies using characteristics such as size, shape, color, elevation, texture and margin.
Use morphology to identify separate colonies and support a more consistent count.
Compare colony size and shape
Recognize different colors and textures
Separate distinct colony types
Develop a systematic approach to counting isolated, clustered and overlapping colonies on agar plates.
Apply the same enumeration method across GFT and viable environmental monitoring plates.
Count isolated colonies
Evaluate clustered and overlapping growth
Document the final CFU result
Training plus competency assessment
Complete the course online and validate culture media interpretation and colony-counting skills against expert-defined criteria.
Course details and enrollment
Review the course format, accreditation information, completion requirements and enrollment options.
Program overview
This application-based program combines theoretical instruction, realistic media fill examples, gloved fingertip plate interpretation and practical competency assessment.
Designed to build and assess applied interpretation skills.
Fully online, self-paced and available without shipping.
For technicians, pharmacists, designated persons and quality managers.
Includes training, practice and competency assessment.
Includes pharmacist and pharmacy technician activity numbers.
Review the accreditation details below for complete dates.
Pharmacist UAN: 0692-0000-26-001-H07-P
Pharmacy technician UAN: 0692-0000-26-001-H07-T
Release date: March 13, 2026
Expiration date: March 13, 2029
Learners must complete the required training activities, achieve at least 80% on the theoretical assessment and provide practical assessment responses that meet the expert-defined acceptance criteria.
Successful participants receive a statement of completion and immediate online results.
Compare your options
Compare course focus, contact hours, learning objectives, pricing and assessment requirements.
Select a course to compare
Staff assessment and viable sampling
Aseptic technique assessment
Validated colony count competency
Course evaluation results
Built by specialists
The program combines pharmacy training, quality compliance and microbiology expertise to create a practical and defensible competency assessment.
Microbiology laboratory partner
U.S. Micro Solutions inc. contributes microbiology expertise, practical agar plate evaluation and expert-defined colony count acceptance ranges.
Microbiology subject-matter expertise
Expert colony count validation
Practical assessment development
Contributing specialists
Training and compliance partner
QUESS 360 contributes pharmacy-focused training design, quality management experience and practical competency program development.
Online course and instructional design
Pharmacy compliance expertise
Competency and completion tracking
Contributing specialists
Expert in Sterile and Non-Sterile Compounding training and consultant.
Expert in Sterile and Non-Sterile Compounding training and consultant.
Frequently asked questions
Review common questions about course access, assessments, completion requirements and team training.
You can purchase online using a credit card for immediate access. For teams of 5 users or more, volume discounts apply ($25 off per user).
Yes, for 5 or more users, get $25 off per user.
You'll begin with a theoretical and practical pretest. The practical portion includes:
You'll then complete the training and a theoretical assessment (minimum 80% to pass; retakes allowed).
Finally, you'll complete a practical assessment requiring 100% of responses to meet expert-defined criteria, including correct contamination assessment (yes/no) and CFU counts within an expert-validated acceptance range.
No. Each user receives a unique combination of agar plates (ranging from easy to complex) that reflect real-world conditions.
Our system includes over 3,675 possible combinations, ensuring fairness, variability, and assessment integrity across users.
Yes. This program is designed to support compliance with USP <797> by providing documented, objective evidence of personnel competency in interpreting environmental monitoring results, GFT samples, and media fill assessments.
Yes. Upon successful completion, participants receive a statement of completion demonstrating their competency. Managers can also track certification status and expiry through the LMS. Contact us to learn more.
The course can typically be completed in 3.5 hours, depending on the user's experience and pace. It is designed to be flexible and self-paced.
Participants must achieve:
If a retake is needed, we do include the 1st retake attempt for free (no additional cost). A second retake may be completed for a $50 fee. If you need assistance, our team of experts is here to support you. Contact us to learn more.
Results are available immediately upon completion of each assessment component. This eliminates delays associated with manual review or physical submissions.
No. This is a fully online, web-based program. There is:
You can start immediately after purchase.
Yes. The platform is designed for team deployment and includes:
This removes the need for manual tracking (e.g., spreadsheets). Contact us to learn more.
Best practice is to complete competency testing:
Some organizations perform testing more frequently based on inspection history or internal quality standards.
Try another search term or choose a different category.
