Calculating the future: Mathematical curriculum in Pharmacy Technician Education
Authors: Smith B J , Kinsey H 
Published: November 2023

Introduction

The General Pharmaceutical Council’s standards for pharmacy technician education state that the learner should be able to “accurately perform pharmaceutical calculations to ensure the safety of people”1. It is important that any calculations taught reflect current practice and ensure patient safety. Previous research identified four calculation types (moles, molarity, displacement value, dilutions) currently taught in the University of East Anglia (UEA) Certificate of Higher education in pharmacy technician practice that are rarely or never used in the workplace by pharmacy technicians2 resulting in a need to consider the inclusion of these in the future curriculum.

Aim

To explore whether certain calculations should continue to be taught and/or examined as part of the Certificate in Higher Education in pharmacy technician practice.

Methods

Ethical approval was obtained through the UEA’s school of education and lifelong research ethics subcommittee (ETH2223-0713). The project team (BS, HK) identified inclusion criteria for prospective participants as registered pharmacy technicians who are current, or previous, educational supervisors of pre-registration pharmacy technicians undertaking the UEA certificate.

Prospective participants were invited via email by the project lead (BS) to take part in focus groups to discuss the calculations taught to pre-registration pharmacy technicians. Due to the small number of responses (9 total), two focus groups were undertaken (with a total of 7 participants within the groups).

During focus groups, four calculation types and their teaching/assessment within the curriculum were discussed: moles, molarity, displacement value, dilutions. The group then voted to either: 1) continue teaching and examination 2) continue teaching and do not examine 3) remove from teaching/examination and teach as a post-qualification advanced course 4) remove from teaching/examination and do not teach in post-qualification. Transcripts from each focus group including the votes submitted were downloaded from the platform being used and analysed using descriptive statistics and inductive thematic analysis by the project lead (BS)3.

Results

Participants discussed that there was no expectation for newly qualified pharmacy technicians to be able to complete the discussed calculations in modern practice. Most agreed that that teaching the calculations would support understanding of the underlying scientific concepts but examination on the specific calculations is unnecessary. Votes highlighted the majority (4 out of 7) of participants wanted teaching to continue but not be examined for moles, molarity and dilution calculations, while there was a less consensus on displacement values, though most agreed teaching of this should not be examined.

Discussion/Conclusion

The changing landscape of pharmacy practice has meant that certain calculations are no longer used in everyday practice and consensus is that examining these is of no benefit to students. Teaching the theory around these calculations may still have a role in allowing students to understand the underlying concepts but examination on the student’s ability to perform these calculations is not considered necessary by workplace supervisors.

One highlighted limitation of this study is the limited number of participants resulting in a small sample size to work with. Further review and a change in curriculum should be undertaken to reflect findings.

References

1. General Pharmaceutical Council. Standards for the initial education and training of pharmacy technicians. 2017

2. Smith, B., Kinsey, H. It doesn’t add up! Calculations in the modern pharmacy technician curriculum, International Journal of Pharmacy Practice. 2022;30(supplement2): ii50–ii51. doi:10.1093/ijpp/riac089.060

3. Braun V, Clarke V. Using thematic analysis in psychology. Qualitative Research in Psychology. 2006;3(2):77–101. doi:10.1191/1478088706qp063oa