Pharmacy Technician Math Proficiency: Barriers and Improvements Through a Focused Continuing Education Activity

Background: This research sought to determine the math proficiency of pharmacy technicians and the potential causes for the technicians’ feelings of deficiency when attending continuing pharmacy education activity (CPE) and performing pharmaceutical calculations. Methods: To investigate these questions, the following questionnaire and test methods were utilized. Pharmacy technicians attending a 2-hour CPE activity completed a pre-activity survey assessing demographics, attitudes toward solving math problems, and sample calculation problems. Subsequently, the post-activity evaluation included additional calculation problems for comparison. Results: Our research found that most participants were nationally certified (82% of participants), but that most had not completed or were unsure if they had completed a formalized training program (58% of participants). Pre-survey data revealed participants perceiving low confidence in their pharmaceutical mathematical capability, as well as their over-reliance on rote memorization as their biggest barriers to solving pharmacy calculations. Baseline performance on calculation problems averaged 32% correct, with technicians finding the greatest difficulty in percentage strength, pediatric dosing, and alligation problems. Post-activity scores improved to an average of 66% correct across these areas. Conclusion: This in-person CPE activity improved pharmacy technicians’ calculation skills. Although many pharmacy technicians struggle with pharmaceutical math problems, the reasons for these issues can be attributed to low confidence and lack of training rather than inability. Future CPE activities can continue to be focused on improving knowledge of underlying math concepts.