Apothecary Liquid Measurements

The Apothecary System is an old system for calculating drug dosages.  It has widely been replaced by the Metric System, but because some medical professionals still use the Apothecary System, a pharmacy technician will need to know these basic conversions:

60 minims	1 fluid dram
480 minims	1 fluid ounce
8 fluid drams	1 fluid ounce
16 fluid ounces	1 pint
2 pints	1 quart
4 quarts	1 gallon

A minim is basically equivalent to a drop of liquid from a standard medicine dropper.  Sixty of those drops of liquid are equivalent to one fluid dram.

Eight fluid drams (and also 480 minims) comprise one fluid ounces (oz).  In your job as a pharmacy technician, you will become very familiar with medications that are dispensed in fluid ounces.  Typically, you will see many liquid medications that range from 1 oz to 16 oz bottles.