Pharmacy Technician Exam Review

This 8-minute hands on detailed introduction will cover the basic skills of pharmacology covered on the exam.  The external link below is a resource that covers the information on the Pharmacy Technician Certification Exam.

Lecture Outline:

Pharmacology

• What is Pharmacology?

Pharmacokinetics

• Medication breakdown in the body

Therapeutic Equivalence

• Ingredients in the drugs

Drug Interactions

• Drug -Disease

• Drug - Drug

• Drug - Dietary Supplement

• Drug - Laboratory

• Drug- Nutrient

  
  

This lecture will teach you memorization of the Top 200 medications most commonly see in a pharmacy.  I cover the most important medications in this video lecture by teaching you to memorize the prefixes, infix, and suffix of the drug name. 

Top 200 Drug Word Stems Covered in this Lecture:

• Antihistamine

• Anti Anxiety

• Local Anesthetic

• Antifungal

• Estrogen

• Hypoglycemic (Diabetes)

• Amino Glycoside

Print out the external link and make flash cards. This list will help with the checkpoint questions at the end of this section.

This lecture will teach you memorization of the Top 200 medications most commonly see in a pharmacy.  I cover the most important medications in this video lecture by teaching you to memorize the prefixes, infix, and suffix of the drug name. 

Top 200 Drug Word Stems Covered in this Lecture:

• Penicillins

• Macrolides

• Beta Blockers

• Corticosteroids

• ACE Inhibitors

• Loop Diuretics

• Proton Pump Inhibitor

Print out the external link and make flash cards. This list will help with the checkpoint questions at the end of this section.

This 4-minute hands on detailed introduction will cover the basic skills of pharmacology covered on the exam.  Product Stability is imperative in keeping the drug in its purest form to treat the disease or condition of the patient.

Lecture Outline:

Drug PH

• What is PH ?

Drug Storage Light

• Why it's important to protect from light?

Drug Storage Temperature

• How does the temperature affect the drug?

Temperature Definition

• Celsius

• Farenheit

This 3-minute hands on detailed introduction will cover the basic skills of pharmacology covered on the exam.  Pay close attention to this lecture NTI Drugs are on the exam.

Lecture Outline:

Narrow Therapeutic Index

• What is Narrow Therapeutic Index ?

Characteristics of NTI Drugs?

• Step Drug Dose

• Therapeutic Drug Monitoring

Examples of NTI Drugs

*****

Federal Requirements is worth 12.5% of Certification Exam. 

(write this down)

Know the meaning of each class of drug recall and the severity of each recall classification:

Class 1 Recall: Death

Class 2 Recall: Temporary or Medically Reversible Health Consequences

Class 3 Recall: Not Likely to cause harm

You should remember Combat Methamphetamine Epidemic Act:

Must be 18 years or older may purchase 3.6 gram per day and 9 grams per month.

You should be familiar with the schedule of medications:

• Schedule 1 - No medical use
  

• Schedule 2 - High Abuse potential. No refills. Order new medications through DEA Form 222
  

• Schedule 3-5 - Up to 5 refills allowed. Prescription expires 6 months after date written.

Inventory of Controlled substances must be made every two years (biennial)

Controlled Substance may be transferred on a one time basis

As a Pharmacy Technician you are required to have little to no experience in Pharmacy Law and Federal Requirements.

Quick Facts to Remember:

• DEA Enforces the provisions of Controlled Substances Drugs

• Physicians are required to have a DEA number to write prescriptions for controlled substances.

• DEA number are made up of 2 letters and 7 numbers.

• HIPAA - Protection of PPI (Protected Patient Information)

• OBRA 90' - Mandated counseling of medicaid patients by a licensed pharmacist

• FDA evaluates the safety of drug products

Risk Evaluation Mitigation Strategies are new to the Certification Exam.  In this 3-minute lecture I will discuss how REMS are important to understand and memorize while preparing for the test.

Patient Safety and Quality Assurance is worth 26.25% of Certification Exam.

In this section you will focus on:

• Patient Rights

• Organizations that reduce and monitor prescription errors

• Look-alike/sound-alike medications

• Error prevention strategies

• Commonly Used Abbreviations

Things to Remember

(write this down)

• The Joint Commission accredits the hospitals and institutional setting pharmacies.

• Aseptic Technique is for hand washing.

• Near miss is a medical error that did not reach the patient.

• Double-count narcotics for accuracy.

This study video will cover:

• Organizations that track errors

• Tall Man Lettering

• Look Alike Sound Alike

• FDA

• ISMP

Only a pharmacist may recommend an OTC medication.  ISMP has established a list of medications that should never be crushed.

In pharmacy its important that you not only count the pills/ tablets in multiple's of 5's but that you understand how to read the prescription label.

• Sterile IV prescription Labeling

• Patient Name

• Patient DOB

• Medication Drug Name

• Ordering Physician

• Directions for use

Patients have 5 rights:  (1) The right drug, (2) The right dose,  (3) The right dosage form, (4) The right route of administration, and (5)The right time of administration.

As a Pharmacy Technician you must have basic knowledge to interpret prescriptions or medication orders.  Abbreviations are used on patient prescriptions, medical charts, and drug orders.

The duties of a Community Pharmacy Technician:

• Entering prescription refills

• Collecting patient information

• Maintaining patient profiles

(write this down)

STAT Orders should be filled within 15 minutes.  Prior authorization requires approval from insurance company.  Common Auxiliary Labels for Dosage Forms is Do Not Drink Alcohol or May Cause Drowsiness.

Order Entry and Processing is worth 21.25% of Certification Exam.

In this section you will focus on:

• Compounding

• Equipment & Supplies used in Pharmacy

• Basic Calculations & Formulas

  
  

Pharmacy technicians can perform a wide range of tasks during the order entry and prescription filling process.  Drug dose may be expressed in dosage units; such as tablets, capsules, or inhalations.  Roman numerals are used by physicians when writing quantities on a prescription.

This study video will cover equipment ad Supplies for Drug Administration which are also listed below:

• Alcohol swabs

• Glucometers and test strips

• Insulin syringes

• Oral dose spoons

• Oral medicine cups

• Oral syringes

• Spacers

• Tuberculin syringe

Infection Control Guidelines: Aseptic Handwashing, Proper Hygiene, removing makeup, jewelry, and tie back long hair. 

Breathe and rejoice!!!

You are almost finish with this review :)  As a Pharmacy Technician you are responsible for calculating basic math calculations such as day supply, quantity, dose, concentrations, and dilutions.

Memorize the Information below (write this down)

• 1 tsp = 5ml

• 1 Tbsp = 15ml

• 1 Oz= 30 ml

• 1 Pint =480 ml

• 1 Gallon = 3,840ml

• 1 Liter = 1,000ml

Roman Numeral

• V or v = 5

• X or x = 10

• L or l = 50

  
  

Temperature Conversions

• Cool = 46 F -59 F

• Room Temp = 59 F - 86 F

• Warm= 86 F - 104 F

  
  

This Detailed Interactive Study Video walks you through each step on how to solve basic pharmacy calculations. You should have a pen, calculator, and paper handy.

Topics Covered: 

• Metric Conversions

• Day Supply

• Calculating Units of Insulin

• Ratio & Proportions

• Converting lb to Kg

• Calculating Pediatric Dose