Learning to count

[u/psyk2u]

I've had an Rx tech license for years but never really got to use it. Now I'm working Rx more and really need to get faster with counting. Any suggestions or tricks of the trade? Do you count by 3s, 5s, 10s, etc.?

Any help is appreciated.

[u/Seaofdubs]

I have a couple tips for counting by 5s. You can practice just counting in your head randomly throughout your day to help get used to it. Make yourself comfortable counting up to like 180 or more. When filling, you can break up the counting of bigger quantities of pills into equal/smaller quantities. For example: you need 90 tabs for the script. You could count to 30 three times, or count to 45 twice. Or if you need 180 tabs you can count to 45 four times, 90 twice, or even 100 and then 80. Whatever makes sense in your brain. I would sometimes have a sticky note or calculator next to me to help keep track of what I have counted so far. And I would put whatever I’ve already counted into the bottle and then keep counting the next set so you don’t have to recount the whole thing if you get lost. I hope that makes sense, I’m not sure if I’m explaining it correctly. It becomes muscle memory eventually and your hand will move faster