Identifier	Thesis 1633
Author	Petroka, Louise A
Title	The objective analysis of aseptic technique in pharmacy technician trainees / Louise A. Petroka
Publisher	Central Connecticut State University
Resource Type	Master's Thesis
Abstract	Pharmacy technicians compound sterile I.V. solutions to be administered to patients in hospitals, long term care facilities and in home care settings. These products must be prepared without contamination. This necessitates sound aseptic techniques of the preparer and training of technicians requires evaluation of their ability to perform various compounding procedures while only touching areas of the syringes, needles, vials and bags that are not sterile. Fluorescein was used in this study as an indicator for improper aseptic technique. Fluorescein is a substance that fluoresces when subjected to UV light. In this study a blacklight was used and the sensitivity of the fluorescein was established prior to its use with the students. Students of a pharmacy technician program were evaluated using gloves coated with 0.5ml of fluorescein 0.5mg/ml as a marker for inappropriate touch contamination. During fluorescein testing, contamination was indicated in 47% of the trials and only 6.6% of the trials during visual observation. Fluorescein was significantly more effective than visual observation at the 99% confidence level using Student's t test with a value of 2.48 and a P-value of 0.019. Fluorescein testing also indicated where in the process of preparation student who failed required additional training. In the initial phase 25% of the students passed, while 75% of the students required further instruction both in didactic and laboratory. In the retesting phase skills improved significantly with 83% of the students passing and a Student's t test value of 2.64 and a P-value of 0.020 at the 99% confidence level. Only one student continued to have difficulty and required further training. This student was visually observed to cause an error, which was also indicated by the fluorescein being found in inappropriate areas of the equipment. Fluorescein allows the instructor to correlate visual observations with physical marks on the equipment reducing the subjective nature of the testing procedures. Prior to this study the instructor may have known there was contamination, but no physical evidence was available to validate this observation. Second the fluorescein indicated where the errors are occurring, allowing the instructor to focus the training on the weaknesses of the individual students. Students who passed where allowed to move on to other tasks freeing up the instructor to attend to those students who require more instruction. Finally, this method allows the instructor to see where the errors are occurring most frequently and then modify the initial training to focus on those areas that are shown to have weaknesses.
Subject	Pharmacy -- Study and teaching Pharmacy -- Study and teaching -- Fluorescein Hospitals -- Home care programs
Department	Department of Biological Sciences
Advisor	Davis, Michael
Type	Text
Digital Format	application/pdf
Language	eng
Date of Publication	2001
OCLC number	48146211
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The objective analysis of aseptic technique in pharmacy technician trainees / Louise A. Petroka

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