NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

[razorbladekisses]

I am currently working towards the NVQ 3 qualification. As a result of being unwell for quite a long period of time I fell behind. I am now having to complete the 2 year course in a year (deadline Mar. 2009). If I don't complete it in time I will have to start from the beginning because apparently the course is changing. I have just started unit 1 and the amount of work involved is way more than I would ever have imagined and that is just 1 unit! I just seem to be struggling with it and not really knowing if what I'm doing is right Is it really this intense or is it just me making too much work of it?

I'd really appreciate any replies. If there is anyone that has already completed the course that would be great

[johnep]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

Just post any problems here and we will do our best to help.
johnep

[Jeff]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

I am currently working towards the NVQ 3 qualification. As a result of being unwell for quite a long period of time I fell behind.
I'd really appreciate any replies. If there is anyone that has already completed the course that would be great

If it's the NPA one - let them know as soon as possible and see if an extension can be made.

[razorbladekisses]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

It isn't the NPA course. I contacted the NVQ centre within my work and they are aware how far behind I am.

Thanks for both of your replies.

[RegPharmTech]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

Who is your course provider? They are usually pretty flexible. When I did the NVQ3 with Buttercups/Nottingham people's college the deadline was 5 years. Let me know if you have any questions course-wise. I'm an NVQ assessor.

[razorbladekisses]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

I'm pretty sure it's City&Guilds. I've got until next March to have finished the whole lot. I'm determined to get it done

At the moment I'm stuck on Unit 1 Element 4 (I think) it asks about extemp. dispensing. I'm finding it difficult as I have never made up anything.

[RegPharmTech]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

Hi, if it has units and elements it sounds like the NVQ. It's run by City and Guilds anyway. Is it practical evidence you're short of, like making an ointment up? If so you could always mix something like white soft paraffin and liquid paraffin, not for a Rx, just for fun. Cheap ingredients, your boss shouldn't mind.

[razorbladekisses]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

Yeah, it's practical evidence that I'm short of. I need 3 different types of products from this list:

Topical preparations-I've chosen menthol 1% in aqueous cream. Never made it up but I'm sure I can describe it.
Oral liquid preparations I guess I can just pick any antibiotic for this one.
Suppositories No idea, never made any up
Powders ?
Capsules No idea, never made any up
Dilutions ?

It seems like I just need one more. Any ideas would be appreciated.

[lamzee]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

dilutions--ephedrine nasal drops 0.25%

Use 5ml ephedrine nasal drops 0.5% and dilute with 5ml normal saline (eg steripod or normasol)

[Jeff]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

I'm pretty sure it's City&Guilds. I've got until next March to have finished the whole lot. I'm determined to get it done

At the moment I'm stuck on Unit 1 Element 4 (I think) it asks about extemp. dispensing. I'm finding it difficult as I have never made up anything.

It seems unfortunate that the course seems to require you to manufacture evidence.

Can't you check with the course supervisor to see if an honest answer that your employers SOP's require that all unlicensed extemp preparation be done by their specials manufacturer.

In which case the answers will be about how you place the order and inform the prescriber that medicine prescribed is unlicensed.

Jeff

[johnep]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

Actually menthol in aqueous cream not so easy as one would expect. I would add a drop or two of IMS (Industrial methylated spirit) to dissolve the menthol and then mix that in.

With powders, these came before tablets and were a weighed quantity of the powder in a 'wrap' of paper. We had a brass trestle which could be set to various lengths to get all neat and tidy. most famous commercial product was Beechams Powders. The folded paper wrap now replaced by a sachet. Cachets used rice paper large capsules, still used for sweets. Capsules need a holder and this could be made from peg board or drilled yourself.

We used to make up morphine suppositories using a suppository mould and cocoa butter. Metal moulds were replaced by plastic using a machine invented by a company Dott Bonapace.

During the war when metal moulds unobtainable, hardwood was used. You could make such a mould very easily by clamping two bits of wood in a vice and drilling the holes where they joined.
johnep

[Tony Schofield]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

This has just hit me as a huge issue. I have staff training as technicians now and I am certain they no longer need to make stuff up on the NPA course. I do send everything to a specials lab. I think I will arrange for such staff to spend some time in said specials lab just so they are aware of what goes on!

[johnep]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

This is major problem in education now. I consider every student should have practical experience of how things they are handling are made. We had a hand tablet punch at college. I was gobstruck when saw my first huge rotary machine turning out 365,000 tabs an hour. Probably regarded as slow now.

I greatly enjoyed my time at Bush Boake Allen in Long Melford seeing mixers the height of two storeys and percolators same size. All gone now.
johnep

[razorbladekisses]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

Originally I wrote that when we received a Rx for an extemp. we phoned the specials department and ordered it. However, apparently that is not acceptable and after reading the guidance pack it does say:

Element 4 does require 3 reports to cover a, b and f. If you do not do any extemp. preparations, your pharmacist can set you examples to do as a simulation. Stating that Alliance policy says to send extemp. prepared items to the lab. will not cover this element.

Apart from the antibiotic the other 2 are going to have to be simulations. I don't understand how I can write about how I make something up when I have no idea how it's made up in the first place.

For the antibiotic all I've got is a couple of lines, hardly a report. I'm not sure whether that is going to be enough.

In the guidance pack it gives examples of dilutions such as rosewater, peppermint water or chloroform water from concentrate. I haven't a clue as to how they are diluted, I've never even seen these products

[johnep]

Re: NVQ 3 Pharmacy Services

Just shows how quickly things become outdated. Standard concentration for concentrated waters is such that they are diluted in ratio 1:39.

Nowadays would be 2.5mls per 100mls of finished water. We used to make up Rose water for icing but nowadays no dilutions done in the dispensary.

looks to me as if NVQ3 based on 60s learning requirement.

BTC certainly do nothing since peppermint water case.
johnep