Appendix to Day 8 regarding compounding:

For those who are not very clear about what compounding is, it is the procedure of making drug products that are not available on the market in pursuit of a prescription (written by a prescriber) for a patient. We are not allowed to make large batches of it, but only enough to fill for the prescription, or in anticipation of a FEW prescriptions that may call upon the same product. Compounding is also NOT manufacturing, which requires us to mass produce such mixtures and is not allowed in the pharmacy profession. There are many reasons why we would need to compound; however, all of them revolve around meeting patient needs. Some include the following:

1) The drug that we want to dispense may not be available on the market as the desired form. For instance, we may require Drug A, which is only available on the market in a tablet, in a patch because a patient may not be able to take Drug A by mouth.

2) The drug mixture may not be available on the market and may require us to make it for the patient. This is particularly useful for drugs that can be applied on the skin as creams and ointments and for patients who don’t want to put many creams one after the other.

3) While the drug may be available in a certain form, it may not be in the same strength or concentration that we want. These situations may not be able to be solved by giving more of the drug because the patient may not necessarily be able or willing to take more of the drug. A problem will also occur by giving less of the drug if the concentration is too strong, as it is harder to measure smaller amounts of drug and maintain the accuracy of each dose.

4) It allows us to personalize what specific ingredients should be mixed and their respective amounts to each other, depending on the patient’s unique condition.

Of course, there are many more benefits to compounding, but I hardly think that people will want to see me list them on my blog.

Sorry for the great burst of posts – this has truly been the only time when I was able to upload them all. Day 9 will be on Monday instead of Sunday – we will be heading to Trenton. This gives me plenty of time on Sunday to spend time with my family. It’s also special because it is Mother’s Day and there are 3 mothers in the family on that day!

Happy Mother’s Day, everyone!