title: Assessment of the accuracy of pharmacy students' compounded solutions using vapor pressure osmometry.
abstract: OBJECTIVE. To assess the effectiveness of using a vapor pressure osmometer to measure the accuracy of pharmacy students' compounding skills. DESIGN. Students calculated the theoretical osmotic pressure (mmol/kg) of a solution as a pre-laboratory exercise, compared their calculations with actual values, and then attempted to determine the cause of any errors found. ASSESSMENT. After the introduction of the vapor pressure osmometer, the first-time pass rate for solution compounding has varied from 85% to 100%. Approximately 85% of students surveyed reported that the instrument was valuable as a teaching tool because it objectively assessed their work and provided immediate formative assessment. CONCLUSIONS. This simple technique of measuring compounding accuracy using a vapor pressure osmometer allowed students to see the importance of quality control and assessment in practice for both pharmacists and technicians.
authors.affiliation: School of Pharmacy, Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, 220University Park Drive, Edwardsville, IL 62026, USA. wkollin@siue.edu
authors.forename: William M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Kolling
authors.forename: Timothy B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: McPherson
mesh_terms: D003479:Curriculum / Q000592:standards*; D004521:Educational Measurement / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D061286:Osmometry / Q000592:standards*; D009997:Osmotic Pressure; D019999:Pharmaceutical Solutions / Q000138:chemical synthesis / Q000592:standards*; D013339:Students, Pharmacy; D055548:Vapor Pressure
chemical_list: D019999:Pharmaceutical Solutions
keywords: assessment; compounding; osmolality; pharmaceutics