Lessons · Pharmacy · how much to dispense
How much to dispense
The quantity is the dose multiplied by how many times a day, multiplied by how many days.
Hone is a place to practise a career, one idea a day. This is one of its lessons, written out in full and free to read without an account.
What it is for
This is the number that leaves the shelf. Get it low and the patient runs out on a Sunday; get it high and the plan rejects the claim and the whole fill goes back in the queue.
How to think about it
Write three things down before multiplying: how much in one dose, how many doses in a day, and how many days. Multiply all three. If the answer is a liquid, the bottle has to hold at least that much, so it goes up to the next whole bottle size.
Worked example
1 tab bid x 30 days = 60 tabsOne tablet twice a day for thirty days.
2 tabs tid x 10 days = 60 tabsTwo at a time this time. The dose is not always one.
5 mL qid x 7 days = 140 mLLiquids work the same way: 5 x 4 x 7.
140 mL goes out as a 150 mL bottleYou cannot dispense part of a sealed bottle, so a liquid quantity rounds UP to the bottle size.
Your turn
One tablet twice a day for 45 days. Write the quantity to dispense.
1 x 2 x 45 = tabs
Solve one, graded on the server
The trap
Forgetting that the dose can be more than one. A sig of two tablets three times a day is six a day, not three, and the quantity is double what a careless reading gives.