Real-Life Math
Tim Gallagher worked as a community retail pharmacist for 15 years
before taking a job managing a dozen pharmacies in southern Minnesota. He
says students don't need an extensive math background to succeed in pharmacy,
but they should be good with numbers.
"If you're compounding IV solutions
in a hospital, a 10-fold error is going to kill a patient," he says. "From
my perspective, business math knowledge is also beneficial, like knowing what
things cost, and what the reimbursement is. Some new pharmacists -- I'm just
shocked -- they don't understand that if a drug costs you $50, and you're
reimbursed $40, it's costing you $10."
One of the roles of a hospital
pharmacist is to order the drugs -- on as tight a budget as possible.
It
means careful decision making: you want good prices and good quality. Sometimes
you have to choose a more expensive pharmaceutical because it is more effective.
It's
difficult to know exactly which medication may be used more than others in
a given month, because you can't predict how many injuries and illnesses will
happen.
Because of the budget restrictions, a pharmacist may end up
being conservative when ordering supplies. There's always the risk that you
may run out of a certain pharmaceutical before a new shipment comes in.
When
that happens, a pharmacist needs math skills to convert the medicine that
is on hand to the correct dilution.
You're working in a hospital pharmacy.
A doctor comes in asking for 100 grams of 2 percent hydrocortisone ointment.
All you have on hand is 5 percent hydrocortisone. How do you dilute the 5
percent cream to 2 percent?