After students in Susan Perez’s Pharmacy Tech class at Frenship High School have learned the top 200 medicines, have a good background in Pharmacy Math, and other basics such as medical terminology, pharmacy laws, and controlled substances (medicines that are addictive), the class has begun to learn sterile technique. This is used in mixing medicines for an IV to be administered directly into a patient’s vein. The students will use their pharmacy math skills to calculate how much medicine to draw up in performing sterile techniques for a Pharmacist from Covenant that volunteers for a day in May to watch each student perform these skills individually. Students will spend to rest of this 5th six weeks learning and practicing proper sterile technique.In this lesson pictured, the students line their supplies up from left to right to keep the work area neat. This will also allow the air to flow over each item once they begin to work under the vented hood used for sterile technique. They wipe off the hour glass shaped ampule with an alcohol prep (a two inch by two inch square wet with alcohol). Then they attach the needle to the syringe while being careful not to touch the tip of either so they stay clean. They use a four inch by four inch gauze square with a new alcohol prep inside to keep the ampule clean. Holding the wrapped ampule in the center, they push with both thumbs to break the ampule. Setting the ampule on the clean work surface, they use the syringe to draw out the medicine from the ampule. Then they change the needle to a filter needle to filter out any glass particles before pushing the medicine into a patient’s IV bag.
This lesson is one part of the steps the students will perform for the Covenant pharmacist.
