Pharmacy and Laboratory Assistance
Overview
Pharmacy and Laboratory Assistance covers prescription handling, drug math, and bench work: sample collection, tube choice, and basic analyzers. The exam rewards accuracy and traceability - right patient, drug, dose, route, time, and documentation.
Pharmacy rules
- Common sig codes: SID once daily, BID twice, TID three times, QID four times, PO by mouth, IM, SQ/SC, IV, PRN as needed, NPO nothing by mouth.
- Controlled substances are counted and logged with a witness; the veterinarian holds the DEA registration and the legal responsibility, not the assistant.
- Read back a telephone prescription to the veterinarian, and never dispense an unlabeled product: patient, drug, strength, dose, route, quantity, expiration.
- Many veterinary drugs are extra-label; the client must be informed and withdrawal times respected in food animals.
Lab basics
- Lavender EDTA tube: CBC. Red top or serum separator: chemistry and serology. Green heparin: selected chemistries. Blue citrate: coagulation - fill to the line.
- PCV/TP: fill a capillary tube two-thirds, seal, spin, read the packed cell volume and read total protein off the plasma.
- Core bench tests: fecal flotation, urinalysis (dipstick plus sediment), ear cytology, skin scraping, heartworm antigen.
Worked example
Order: 5 mg/kg of a 50 mg/mL injectable for a 12 kg dog. Reasoning: 5 × 12 = 60 mg. Then 60 mg ÷ 50 mg/mL = 1.2 mL. Draw it in a 3 mL syringe so graduations are readable, have a second person check the math, and record lot number and injection site. The classic error is pounds: a 12 lb dog needs about 27 mg, not 60.
Traps
Using an EDTA tube for a chemistry panel, shaking rather than gently inverting tubes, and confusing mg/kg with mg/lb.