Compounding Pharmacist Interview Questions and Answers
Compounding pharmacists play a crucial role in healthcare settings, they are specialized in the compounding of medications and ensuring their safe and effective use in the community.
Q. What do you mean by compounding pharmacy?
Compounding pharmacy is the creation of a pharmaceutical preparation by a licensed pharmacist to meet the unique needs of an individual patient (either human or animal) when a commercially available drug does not meet those needs.
The U.S. Pharmacopeia Convention (USP) formally defines compounding as “the preparation, mixing, assembling, altering, packaging, and labeling of a drug, drug-delivery device, or device in accordance with a licensed practitioner’s prescription, medication order, or initiative based on the practitioner/patient/ pharmacist/compounder relationship in the course of professional practice.”
Q. When a compounded preparation should be prepared?
A compounded preparation should be prepared only in circumstances when:
- A registered product is unavailable in the market.
- A registered product with similar therapeutic effect is unavailable in the market.
- A registered product is unsuitable (e.g. if a patient experiencing allergy to an excipient in the registered product).
- When undertaking research sanctioned by a recognized human research ethics committee.
- A treatment requires tailored dosage strengths/forms for patients with unique needs (for example, an infant).
Q. Which product not permitted to compound?
Compounded preparations must not:
- Contain substances which are prohibited by the Drug Control Authority
- Consist of parenteral medicine containing combinations of ingredients where there is no compatibility data.
- Be intended for recreational purpose where the benefit of having the substances compounded is not proven (e.g.: nicotine).
Q. Who regulates compounding pharmacies?
The practice of compounding is regulated by national drug regulatory authority.
Q. What are the responsibilities of a compounding pharmacist?
- Ensure all compounding preparations of acceptable strength and quality to ensure the authenticity of the order.
- Ensure all compounding processes are conducted appropriately.
- Ensure the compounded preparation is supplied with appropriate packaging and labelling.
- Ensure all compounding processes have been documented accordingly.
- Ensure compliance to relevant acts and regulations.
Q. What types of documentation are needed a compounding pharmacy setting?
Compounding documents should include:
- Master formula
- Compounding records
- Standard operating procedures (SOPs) and its relevant records
- Records such as the Certificates of Analysis (COA) and Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) of ingredients.
Q. Which information should include in a compounded preparation?
- Generic names of main active ingredients
- Strength or quantity
- Batch number; traceable to the compounded preparation
- Beyond-use date (BUD)
- Storage requirement
Q. Have you ever had to deal with a medication error during compounding? If so, how did you handle it?
Yes, I have encountered a medication error in my career as a compounding pharmacist. In one instance, a technician accidentally dispensed a wrong strength of an active ingredient while preparing a compounded medication. Upon reviewing the final product and cross-checking it with the prescription, I noticed the discrepancy.
I immediately informed the pharmacy in-charge about the issue and took responsibility for rectifying the situation. We discarded the incorrect batch and prepared a new one using the correct strength of the active ingredient. To prevent such errors from happening again, we implemented additional quality control measures, including double-checking each component before compounding and having another pharmacist verify check the final product against the original prescription.
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