The Uses of Volume in a Pharmacy

There are number of types of pharmacies, ranging from the typical retail pharmacy to hospital pharmacies, to compounding and nuclear pharmacies. Each of these types of pharmacy environments use the measurement of volume in different capacities. For medications dispensed in either liquid or suspension form, pharmacists will need to determine the appropriate measurement in volume to fulfill the prescribed medication.

Retail Pharmacies

• Retail pharmacists counsel customers on over the counter medications, as well as drugs prescribed by doctors. Retail pharmacies will often dispense liquid, syrup, or suspension medications. These types of medications are measured in volume, and pharmacies will sometimes have to create the actual medication for the patient. Suspensions are medications suspended in a liquid, sometimes requiring the pharmacist to mix or compound the medication and liquid.

Hospital Pharmacies

• Pharmacists in hospital pharmacies most often fill medications ordered by doctors for patients in the hospital, including those patients undergoing surgical procedures. Intravenous therapy, or using IV bags to drip a liquid directly into the patient's bloodstream, are created and dispensed through hospital pharmacies. Pharmacists use volume measurement to calculate the drip rate based on the total amount of medication in the IV bag.

Compounding Pharmacies

• Compounding pharmacies specialize in creating individualized medication solutions for each patient, when manufactured medications aren't meeting their needs. A compounding pharmacy can create medications in number of forms, including liquids and suspensions. Volume is used to accurately measure the amounts of medication in a single dose of medication dispensed in liquid form, whether oral, intravenous, or injection.

Nuclear Pharmacies

• Nuclear pharmacies very rarely interact with patients. Pharmacists at nuclear pharmacies are specially trained to handle hazardous materials, including radioactive materials. The purpose of nuclear pharmacies is to conduct diagnostic tests on specialized materials and to use these substances to treat certain diseases. A nuclear pharmacy is somewhat similar to a compounding pharmacy, as they also create their own medications from a variety of sources, but differ in their actual sources. Like other pharmacies, nuclear pharmacies use volume measurements in the creation, dosing, and dispensing of their materials.