Week 8: Review Diluted with… Dilutions?

Vincent D -

Clocking in for another blog post! Welcome back to the blog!

With the Technical Skills Assessment (TSA) and the pharmacy technician certification exam coming around the corner, the classroom turned sharply into a review mode. Everything from our bell work and lessons, to our weekly quizzes has been adjusted to help practice and review for the exams.

Because we finished learning all the new content from NHA’s pharmacy technician course, Mrs. Gilbow has dedicated each day to a content review day in which different topics in pharmacy are revisited every day. She has called these lessons ‘Countdown to Exam Review!’

This week, we had three review lessons. On Monday, we reviewed everything that we need to know about contraindications and drug to drug interactions. On Tuesday, we reviewed order entry and processing in the pharmacy. Finally, on Thursday, we revisited knowledge about procedures for inventory control. These review lessons have been very helpful for me as the lessons reassessed me on old content through engaging class activities and discussions.

Aside from all the review that I did this week in class, on Wednesday, I performed a new hands-on skill! I performed geometric dilution with powders in a non-sterile lab activity! I used both new equipment like the electronic balances and old equipment like the mortar and pestle. For this geometric dilution, we used powders; specifically, we used activated charcoal as the active ingredient and baking powder as the dilutant. This activity was really fun and easy for me! However, I did make a big mess on the table, so I have some areas to improve on!

Electronic balance measuring the amount of baking soda
Electronic balance measuring the amount of baking soda
Baking soda, mortar and pestle, spatula, and activated charcoal
The equipment and ingredients used in the geometric dilution lab
Mortar and pestle used in geometric dilution with powders
The results of my geometric dilution

This week, I also spent a lot of time studying for the exams on my own. I have been logging into NHA to review old module lessons to take notes and jot down information that might pop up on the certification exam. I have also been waking up early and going to the library to focus more and study with friends.

Yesterday, I finally scheduled my NHA ExCPT exam for certification. I will be taking the certification exam on April 29th with the TSA falling on April 21st.

My final concluding blog will be days right before my certification exam. I am excited for the coming weeks as I plan on gaining a good mastery of the content.

Thanks for stopping by! Catch you in the next shift!

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Comments:

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    daniel_w
    Wow, congrats on scheduling your final pharmacy technician exam, Vincent! You've come a long way on your journey to becoming a pharmacist since you started back in February. Is the ExCPT exam only knowledge-based, or will you also be tested on your hands-on experience? Thanks in advance!
    jenny_t
    That's super exciting that you're in the final stretch of earning your certification. Waking up early to study in the library shows so much dedication (and it also reminded me that I need to start locking in too). Which review topic did you find the most challenging so far? You’ve got this, Vincent!
    vincent_d
    Thank you, Daniel! Just to clarify, I do not plan on becoming a pharmacist. Just a pharmacy technician for now! The technician certification exam will test my knowledge on general content and on certain procedures for hands-on experiences. I will not need to perform anything hands-on to pass the exam.
    vincent_d
    Thank you, Jenny! The review on contraindications and drug to drug interactions was the most challenging to me so far because I need to memorize a few examples of common contraindications and drug interactions.

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