Updated 9 min read
Who authorises pharmacists in Norway
The Norwegian Directorate of Health (Helsedirektoratet) grants authorisation to health personnel, pharmacists included. Pharmacists educated outside the EU/EEA meet extra requirements that EU/EEA graduates do not.
Other bodies you will meet: the Norwegian Medical Products Agency (Direktoratet for medisinske produkter, DMP, called Statens legemiddelverk until 2024) regulates medicines and keeps the generic substitution list, and the Norwegian Board of Health Supervision (Statens helsetilsyn) oversees health personnel and can act on unsafe practice.
Step 1: the assessment of your degree
Helsedirektoratet compares your Pakistani degree with the Norwegian pharmacy degree. Send full transcripts and course descriptions, not just the degree certificate. If your education is found equivalent, you receive confirmation that you may go on to step 2.
Step 2: the additional requirements
- Norwegian at B2 on the Common European Framework: Norskprøven with B2 on every part, Bergenstesten, or one of the school and university routes Helsedirektoratet lists. It must be met before you can join the courses.
- Course in national subjects: the Norwegian health and care services, health, social security and welfare law, cultural understanding and national priorities.
- Course in medicine handling, held together with the national subjects course: medicines legislation and prescribing rights, medicine handling and drug calculations, ending with a test.
- Folkeuniversitetet is the only approved provider of the courses, which run in the spring or autumn semester.
- Everything must be done within three years of the assessment, with three attempts per course. You pay the costs yourself.
What to study for the medicine-handling test
- Drug calculations: mg/kg doses, strengths in mg/mL and percent, dilutions, infusion rates in mL/hour and drops/minute, and unit conversions (g, mg, microgram).
- Prescription groups A (narcotics), B (addictive medicines) and C (other prescription-only medicines), and what changes when you dispense each.
- Who may prescribe what, how prescriptions and e-prescriptions are checked, and when a pharmacist may substitute a generic from the substitution list.
- Safe handling: storage, labelling, controlled drugs, dose dispensing, high-risk medicines and reporting errors and adverse reactions.
- Duties of health personnel: prudent practice, confidentiality, documentation and informed consent.
A twelve-week plan alongside your Norwegian classes
- Weeks 1–4: ten calculation MCQs a day and the Norwegian regulatory framework.
- Weeks 5–8: safe medicine handling, controlled drugs and medication safety.
- Weeks 9–10: clinical pharmacy refresh: interactions, special populations, adverse effects.
- Weeks 11–12: timed mixed tests and the Norwegian terms in the cheat sheet.
Mistakes to avoid
- Waiting to start Norwegian: the language requirement is usually the longest step.
- Sending a degree without course descriptions, which slows the assessment.
- Relying on work experience for an exemption: work experience alone does not qualify.
- Letting the three-year window run out before all requirements are met.