extemporaneous preparation: mixing together of ingredient of a prescription or drug formulation for individual order by a dispenser or pharmacist.
compounding is a required skill set as a pharmacist as there are special people that requires drug in different form and/or dose from the general public such as neonate, geriatric and such.
this is because not all medication can be manufactured into solution form. some medication is poorly soluble in water and other rapidly degrade in solution form. thus manufacturer produce tablet, granule or powder for reconstitution of the medication.
example, a newborn that requires a medication in solution form for they to ingest instead of the commercially available tablet formulated for adult. thus, the tablet need to be convert to solution/suspension/syrup based on it properties.
it take me sometime before fully understand the importance of extemporaneous preparation...the benefit of it to patient and the problem it give to the patient. through out the years, we encounter many type of personal demanding different kind of extemporaneous preparations. we learn new way of doing the same formulation of a preparation; when you add ingredient in different sequence, it can either produce a finer product or more course product. we even learn than some preparation can be do using different formulation leading to different final product such as; isoniazide tablet can be made to elixir, solution and suspension depending on the carrier you use. we also able to find newer formulation that easier to reproduce compare to older reference.
there also the question of how long a product can be use once you prepared it extemporaneously. there are many reference but nothing beat evidence from laboratory testing.
these are the things that i learned during my time as a galenical pharmacist. there are time that i fell lost...not knowing where to turn to answer question that it unknown to me...but helps always there if you seek. just drop the ego and ask for helps. there are always people that is more knowledgeable and experience than you. i thank you all that have help and guide me thru my dark hour.
aside from extemporaneous preparation, we also deal with re-packing commercial bulk product to more convenient and compact packing. picking a suitable pack size is an issue that can either make or brake you. another thing is determining the suitable use period after a preparation is re-packed. one must think a suitable amount for a preparation to be re-packed and the time period it will be use before it finish or not suitable to be use anymore.
there are many things one can learn being in galenical...you can either use the opportunity to the fullest to explore and learn new things. or just make do with what you are given with.
i only been a galenical pharmacy for about 2 years...and there are many things that i still don't know and understand about extemporaneous preparation...hopefully i can use what i've learn so far and make use of it in satelit pharmacy.
p.s...i rambling...i know...
