Pharmacy Technician Case Study

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Summary of Instructional Problem
When studying to pass the pharmacy technician national certification exam, students (generally uncertified technicians working in a retail setting) struggle the most with pharmacy calculations. Students need to learn how to quickly and accurately calculate drip rates for IV’s, dosage calculations for children and adults, concentration percentages, dilution amounts, body surface area, alligation, business math, and days’ supply. Pharmacy technicians prepare medications that are administered to patients; a solid understanding of pharmacy math can save lives.
Pharmacy calculations can be difficult to learn for a few reasons. First, no special schooling is required for the profession. Technicians only need …show more content…

Attaining certification often leads to a pay raise or entry into the higher-paying institutional sector of pharmacy. The pharmacy technician field is only one of a few medical fields that do not require a college degree. Most pharmacy technicians desire a medical career that is within their reach to attain without years of college and without the normally high financial cost of attendance. In addition, the pharmacy technician national certification exam is accepted in all 50 states and is one of the very few medical exams with this flexibility. Finally, most pharmacy technicians are female, and many have children and need a course that is convenient, inexpensive, and will get them out in the labor force quickly or lead to a raise in pay.

Attitudes toward the Topic
The topic of instruction is pharmacy calculations, and many students fear this section of the pharmacy technician national certification exam. It is also the part of their job that distresses them the most. Pharmacy technicians are expected to perform calculations quickly and accurately – for the exam and on the job. Many different calculations must be learned, and the calculations truly must be done correctly or lives of pharmacy patients may be at risk. This is a heavy burden for pharmacy technicians to bear.

And because most pharmacy technicians are female, they most likely grew up with the gender stereotype that females do not perform as well as males do in math. This anxiety can lower their confidence in their ability to quickly and accurately perform pharmacy

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