The development of a programmed training manual to teach basic skills to hospital pharmacy technicians is described. Steps in the development of the manual included reviewing pertinent literature, writing a job description for a pharmacy technician position, performing a task analysis, writing learning objectives and sequencing course content into a programmed format. Five units of the manual cover dosage forms and routes of administration, drug nomenclature, abbreviations, calculations and medication orders. The programmed format should help to provide quality, economic and efficient training for technicians.