PTCE: The Basics of Medications

- Knowledge Area 1.1: Generic names, brand names, and classifications of medications
- Knowledge Area 1.2: Therapeutic equivalence
- Knowledge Area 1.3: Common and life-threatening drug interactions and contraindications (e.g., drug-disease, drug-drug, drug-dietary supplement, drug-laboratory, drug-nutrient)
- Knowledge Area 1.4: Strengths/dose, dosage forms, routes of administration, special handling and administration instructions, and duration of drug therapy
- Knowledge Area 1.5: Common and severe medication side effects, adverse effects, and allergies
- Knowledge Area 1.6: Indications of medications and dietary supplements
- Knowledge Area 1.7: Drug stability (e.g., oral suspensions, insulin, reconstitutables, injectables, vaccinations)
- Knowledge Area 1.8: Narrow therapeutic index (NTI) medications
- Knowledge Area 1.9: Physical and chemical incompatibilities related to non-sterile compounding and reconstitution
- Knowledge Area 1.10: Proper storage of medications (e.g., temperature ranges, light sensitivity, restricted access)

Skills You Need To Know:
- Define terms associated with pharmacology.
- Be familiar with common terms used to describe drug interactions.
- Explain the drug approval process, including the timeline, clinical trial testing, and the FDA’s role.
- Understand the importance of stability and beyond-use dating.
- Recognize commonly used auxiliary labels for prescribed medications.
- Define therapeutic index and narrow therapeutic index, and identify medications with a narrow therapeutic index profile.
- Understand common storage requirements.
- Identify brand and generic drug names of medications in each pharmaceutical classification.
- Identify common dosage forms, routes of administration, and the duration of drug therapy for each pharmaceutical agent.
- Identify common available doses of each pharmaceutical agent.
- Identify common side effects and therapeutic contraindications of frequently prescribed agents.
- List common indications associated with each pharmaceutical agent.

A 2020 Gallup survey of consumers rated pharmacists as the fourth most trusted profession in terms of honesty and ethical standards. As a pharmacy technician, it is important to uphold those same standards. This starts with having a basic understanding of medications and being able to identify them.
The pharmacy contains thousands of medications that serve a wide range of indications and ages to help treat, prevent, or cure diseases. Pharmacy technicians should be able to classify drugs by major therapeutic categories, and they should be able to identify main indications (the therapeutic use of a drug). It is also essential for technicians to identify common brand and generic drug names. Look for commonly used drug prefixes and suffixes, dubbed “stems” as noted by the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council. A stem refers to a unique pharmacological or chemical relationship between drugs and can be used to help recall a medication or a classification.

Tip:
Remember the difference: Pharmacokinetics is what the body does to the drug. Pharmacodynamics is what the drug does to the body.

Important Terms to Know
- PHARMACOLOGY: Derived from the Greek words “pharmakon,” meaning remedy, and “logos,” meaning knowledge, the word pharmacology loosely translates to “the knowledge of drugs.”
- PHARMACOKINETICS: A branch of pharmacology that refers to the rate of drug absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion (ADME).
- PHARMACODYNAMICS: A branch of pharmacology that refers to the biological and physical effects of the drug on the body.
- BRAND NAME: A proprietary name protected by a patent. This is often referred to as the manufacturer’s trademarked name. The first letter of a brand name is always capitalized.
- GENERIC NAME: A nonproprietary name approved by the United States Adopted Names (USAN) Council. The generic drug must have the same active ingredient, dosage strength, and formulation as the brand name drug, but it may have different inactive ingredients. The first letter of a generic name is not capitalized.
- CHEMICAL NAME: A name given to a drug during the initial clinical investigation, referring to its atomic or molecular structure.
- DOSAGE FORM: The physical manifestation of the drug or how the drug is supplied.