The aim of this programme is to support pharmacy professionals with calculations in clinical settings when preparing, prescribing or checking medicines or when advising other healthcare professionals. The principles can be applied to any sector of pharmacy practice.
If you need to revisit any basic mathematical concepts please access our Dispensary-based calculations for pharmacy technicians e-learning programme.
Learning outcomes
On completion of all aspects of this learning programme you should be able to:
- calculate ideal body weight and adjusted body weight for patients and explain when these calculations may be necessary
- estimate a patient’s creatinine clearance using the Cockcroft and Gault equation and apply this when calculating the dose of a medicine
- use molar mass to calculate the volume of a dose prescribed in millimoles
- convert between different formulations of opioid medicines
- interpret weight per volume strengths of medicines
- recognise the additional risks presented when making calculations involving medicines for children
- explain what a displacement volume is and use it to calculate the volume of diluent required for reconstitution of a powder for injection
- create a reducing dose regime for a continuous intravenous infusion
- describe the factors that should be taken into account when converting solid oral preparations to other formulations of medicines
- convert solid oral doses of medicines into equivalent doses in other formulations
- adapt calculation answers to practical doses which can be administered to patients.
How to use this programme
You can access this e-learning programme using a web browser on any device. You will need to be connected to the internet while you work through it.
Learning intended for
- Pharmacists
- Pharmacy technicians
- Trainee pharmacists
- CPPE registrants
