Delivery Method

• Compounding can change the delivery method of a drug. For example, a drug delivery from a wholesaler is in a solid form. Pharmacists can crush the medicine and mix it into a liquid solution, so it may be delivered intravenously as well as in a liquid in a bottle. This requires knowledge of the liquids which can completely dissolve the drug, as well as how much solid the liquid can absorb into solution, so the solid medicine does not settle out of the liquid and accumulate at the bottom of the container.
  
  

Conversions

• Conversions are important in compounding. A pharmacist must know how to convert fluid ounces to milliliters and conversion of grams to ounces and pounds. Medications do not always have labels that describe the drug quantity under different measurement systems, so knowledge of how to calculate and measure liquid and solid volume and weight is necessary.
  
  

Side Effects

• Compounding requires knowledge of drug side effects. When mixing drugs to create a medicine, several drugs may be added to the mixture. The pharmacist must know the side effects of each individual drug, as well as which patients may have an allergic reaction to one of the drugs. Some drugs cancel or amplify the effects of others, so the pharmacist must know the effects of combining medications as well. Some drugs do not mix well with others so a pharmacist must be aware of substitutes that produce similar effects in the body.
  
  

Delivery Methods

• Delivery methods are important in compounding. Different organs of the body, such as the skin, the lungs and the mouth, absorb medication at different rates. A pharmacist is aware of the amount of medicine each organ uptakes. This allows a dose to be effective over a specific time period. Physicians include information in a prescription that describes how often a medication is given to a patient each day, such as twice a day or three times a day.
  
  

Custom Dosages

• Custom dosages of drugs are available through compounding. Medicines are often available as powders or tablets that are not separated into individual dosages. A pill of a medicine may be delivered as a thousand milligrams when the patient is prescribed doses of five hundred milligrams. Compounding allows the pharmacist to deliver a precise dosage to treat a medical condition.