Pharmacy Calculations for Tecnicians [Paperback]

With this exceptional textbook, students gain the necessary knowledge, skills, and confidence to provide safe and effective care for the patients they will serve in their future careers. Chapter content provides a stepped approach to pharmacy calculations by laying a foundation of number sense in the beginning chapters and building to more complex calculations related to parenteral medications.

Students using the textbook and Study Partner CD will:

• Review basic mathematical concepts, such as fractions, decimals, percents, ratios, and number systems
• Understand different calculation methods such as ratio and proportion, dimensional analysis, and alligation
• Practice calculations, conversions, and measurements for accurate drug doses
• Become knowledgeable about business calculations, such as inventory, profit margins, and insurance reimbursements

In addition, four appendices provide important resources for pharmacy technician students. These appendices include:

• Problem Set Answers
• Additional Practice with Fractions and Percents
• Common Pharmacy Abbreviations and Acronyms
• Measures and Conversions

The Study Partner CD supports student learning with:

• Chapter Terms and Flash Cards that help students learn key terminology
• Matching Activities that provide students with a fun, interactive way to learn chapter content
• Quizzes that test students’ understanding of important chapter concepts in both Practice and Reported modes
• A link to the Internet Resource Center that provides in-depth reference information and additional resource

             New chapter features include:

• Timely Topics cover important issues and initiatives to heighten students’ awareness of the developing technology, trends, and policies impacting their field. Specifically, this edition covers days’ supply, time conversion, IV calculations, and insurance reimbursements, to name a few.
• Sampling the Certification Exam provides students with 5 practice problems that model the test format of the certification exams.
• Body System Icons appear near all generic and brand name medications discussed in the chapter. These icons help students make connections between medications and the body systems they are prescribed to treat.
• For Good Measure tips offer students helpful hints and rules to remember when performing pharmacy calculations.
• Safety in Numbers tips alert students to important safety reminders to ensure safe and effective patient care.
• Put Down Roots tips analyze the root words of math terms, helping students better understand how the definitions of these terms emerged from their word parts.
• Name Exchange tips remind students they must be familiar with both the generic name and the brand name of frequently prescribed medications.
• Chapter Summaries provide students with a helpful overview of the chapter’s key points.
• Assessing Comprehension provides 10 multiple-choice questions that cover important concepts from the chapter.
• Finding Solutions presents real-world scenarios to help students gain practice in handling challenging workplace situations.

In addition to these new features, Pharmacy Calculations for Technicians continues to offer:

• Learning Objectives
• Examples and Problem Sets
• Key Terms
• Authentic Medication Labels
• Photos, Figures, and Tables
• Chapter Practice Tests

1. Understanding Subdivisions of Numbers, Number Systems, Estimating, and Accuracy.

2. Using Ratios, Percents, and Proportions.

3. Developing Literacy Skills.

4. Applying Metric Measurements and Calculating Doses.

5. Using Household Measure in Pharmacy Calculations.

6. Preparing Injectable Medications.

7. Preparing Intravenous Medications.

8. Using Special Calculations in Compounding.

9. Using Business Math in the Pharmacy.

    Appendix A. Answers to Problem Sets.

    Appendix B. Additional Practice with Fractions and Percents.

    Appendix C. Additional Practice with Compounding.

    Appendix D. Measures and Conversions.

    Glossary

Tova Wiegand Green, BS, is a department chair in the School of Health Sciences, which includes Medical Assisting, Therapeutic Massage, and several allied health programs, including the Pharmacy Technician program at Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana Northeast in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She has coordinated and taught the statewide pharmacy technician program that is delivered on a two-way video hybrid system in Indiana. She has been a guest speaker at the Indiana Pharmacy Alliance Annual Meeting for the Pharmacy Technician Track, speaking on pharmacy calculations and compounding math. In addition, she has served as a consultant for the Indiana Higher Education Technology Services on issues related to teaching on a hybrid, two-way video system, including teaching math skills through distance education. In addition, she has worked as a pharmacy intern for Kroger pharmacies in Indiana.

Don A. Ballington, MS, served as program coordinator of the pharmacy technician training program at Midlands Technical College in Columbia, South Carolina for 27 years. He has also served as president of the Pharmacy Technician Educators Council and in 2005 received the council’s Educator of the Year award. He has been a consulting editor for the Journal of Pharmacy Technology, and over the course of his career at Midlands Technical College, he has developed high-quality training materials for pharmacy technicians—made available in Pharmacy for Technicians, Pharmacy Calculations for Technicians, and Pharmacy Practice for Technicians published by Paradigm Publishing.