What should a pharmacy technician do if he or she receives a warning during the drug utiliza- tion evaluation phase of prescription processing?

Antibiotics; medications identified on the ISMP List of high-alert drug classes include adrenergic agonists, adrenergic antagonists, anesthetic agents, antiarrhythmics, antithrombotic agents, cardioplegic solutions, chemotherapeutic agents, dextrose, dialysis solutions, epidural or intrathecal medications, oral hypoglycemics, inotropic agents, insulin, liposomal forms of drugs, moderate sedation agents, narcotics and opioids, neuromuscular blocking agents, parenteral nutritional agents, radiocontrast agents, sterile water for injection, inhalation, and irrigation sodium chloride for injection.

The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is responsible for overseeing Med Watch.

Certain classes of medications, including estrogen-containing medications and oral contraceptives, must be dispensed with patient package inserts. This is a mandate by the Food and Drug Administration.

Transcription errors result from incorrect data entry on the part of a human operator. Therefore, repeating back phone orders to the caller before hanging up would be the best approach to avoid this specific type of medication error.

High-alert medications are defined by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices as "drugs that can cause significant and considerable harm when used in error." Adverse drug events, drug-drug interactions, and prescription drug abuse may be associated with or result from use or misuse of these medications.

For whole numbers, trailing zeros (e.g., 5.0) should be avoided because it could result in a 10-fold increase in the dose if the period is mistakenly overlooked. Instead, this should have been written simply as "5." The other options are examples of appropriate use of zeros and/or decimal points.

A pharmacy technician should listen carefully to the patient and inform the pharmacist of the situation; only the pharmacist can make a decision on the proper course of action.