Certification of Pharmacy Technicians (ExCPT) Practice Exam

To compound 60 g of hydrocortisone cream at 2%, how much hydrocortisone powder is needed?

1. 1.2 mg

2. 1,200 mg

3. 0.06 g

4. 6 g

The correct answer is: 1,200 mg

To determine how much hydrocortisone powder is needed to create a 2% hydrocortisone cream weighing 60 g, it's essential to understand the concept of percentage concentration. A 2% cream means that 2 grams of the active ingredient (in this case, hydrocortisone) are present in every 100 grams of the cream. To find out how much hydrocortisone is required for a total of 60 grams of cream, you can set up a simple calculation. Since 2% refers to 2 grams of hydrocortisone in 100 grams of cream, this ratio can be expressed as: \[ \text{Amount of hydrocortisone} = \left(\frac{2 \text{ g}}{100 \text{ g}}\right) \times 60 \text{ g} \] Calculating this gives: \[ \text{Amount of hydrocortisone} = \left(0.02\right) \times 60 \text{ g} = 1.2 \text{ g} \] Since the question asks for the amount in milligrams, it is important to convert grams to milligrams (1 g = 1,000 mg