Learn Practical Skills At Home

Your comprehensive lessons are clear and well-organized; easy to follow, yet challenging and engaging at the same time. Each lesson begins with an introductory note from your instructor, plus a preview outlining the subject matter and study objectives.

Next comes the reading assignment from your beautifully illustrated textbook, lesson book or supplemental references. Practice exercises help you check and review the key concepts you've learned. Then, turn in your open-book exam (available online) for the lesson, whenever YOU are ready.

Enroll online or call 1-800-535-1613 to speak with an Admission Advisor!

Meet Your Instructor

Tina Boyd Stacy is the chief instructor of The Professional Retail Pharmacy Assistant Program. She is a Board Certified Oncology Pharmacist with many years of experience in the clinical and educational side of the profession.

We will make sure you progress smoothly through your studies. If you need help or have questions along the way, just write, call fax, or E-mail us 24 hours a day. Our staff of courteous, knowledgeable career tutors will give you prompt, personal guidance.

What You’ll Learn Lesson By Lesson in this Course

Lesson l: Introduction to Retail Pharmacy
Introduction to the practice of pharmacy and explanation of terms that are commonly used in the pharmacy profession.

Lesson 2: Pharmacology in Practice
Definitions, uses, and sources of the basic tools of pharmacy – drugs.

Lesson 3: Dosage Forms and Routes of Administration; Pharmaceutical Measurements and Calculations
Ways to get medications into the body. Introduction of the basic measurement systems and mathematical techniques used in pharmacy.

Lesson 4: Dispensing Medications and the Community Pharmacy
Dispensing medication, mechanics of billing, purchasing, receiving, and inventory management in a pharmacy setting.

Lesson 5: Hospital Pharmacy Practice
Pharmacy operations in hospital settings.

Lesson 6: Nonsterile Pharmaceutical Compounding and Human Relations
Pharmaceutical equipment and techniques required for proper compounding of ingredients; providing first-rate customer service.

Lesson 7: Infection Control; Preparing Sterile IVs
Protecting patients and healthcare providers from infectious diseases. Techniques used to prepare sterile intravenous products.

Lesson 8: Medication Safety
Prevalence and potential adverse effects caused secondary to medical errors. Processes and procedures which may be implemented to prevent medical errors within the healthcare system.

Lesson 9: The Science of Pharmacology
Process of getting drugs approved for general use by physicians. Issues related to the administration of drugs to individual patients.

Lesson 10: Antibiotics, Antifungals, and Antivirals
Infectious bacteria and the antibiotic drugs that have been developed to treat them. Introduction to fungi and viruses.

Lesson 11: Narcotic Pain Relievers, Neurologicals, and Psychiatric Drugs
How the human nervous system is affected by the various classes of pain relievers.

Lesson 12: Respiratory and Gastrointestinal Drugs
Pharmacology of respiratory and gastrointestinal drugs.

Lesson 13: Urinary System and Cardiovascular Drugs
Diseases and disorders of the cardiovascular and urinary systems, including the drug therapies that are used in prevention and treatment.

Lesson 14: Muscle Relaxants, Nonnarcotic Analgesics, Hormones, and Topicals
Study of the nature, uses, and side effects of medicinal drugs in the classes of muscle relaxants, nonnarcotic analgesics, hormones, and topicals.

Lesson 15: Chemotherapy and Miscellaneous Pharmaceutical Products
Chemotherapeutic and biologic drugs as well as substances such as vitamins, herbs, and antidotes.