These free B.Pharm notes on tablets cover chapter 10 of General Pharmacy, a first-semester subject. Read the key points below, then study the complete chapter PDF. You can browse every chapter in the General Pharmacy category.
Table of Contents
Read the following document for full information
Chapter overview
Tablets are the most widely used oral solid dosage form. This chapter defines a tablet and classifies tablets by coating and by route. It describes compressed, multiple compressed, repeat-action, delayed-release, sugar-coated, film-coated, enteric-coated, chewable, immediate-release and extended-release tablets, with their features, uses and examples.
Key points on tablets
- A tablet is a solid unit dose prepared by compressing a drug with excipients.
- Compressed tablets are the simplest type, whereas multiple compressed tablets include layered and compression-coated tablets.
- Sugar-coated, film-coated and enteric-coated tablets protect the drug or mask taste.
- Delayed-release, repeat-action and extended-release tablets control when and how long the drug is released.
- Tablets are also given by buccal, sublingual and vaginal routes, or dissolved before use.
Relevance to pharmacy practice
Pharmacists counsel patients on which tablets can be crushed, chewed or split. Crushing enteric-coated or extended-release tablets can cause toxicity or loss of effect.
Every chapter in this subject builds on the one before it, so do not skip topics that look simple. Definitions, classifications and official examples are the parts that examiners return to most often, and a clear understanding here will also make later subjects such as pharmaceutics and pharmacology much easier to follow in the coming semesters.
Frequently asked questions
Why are tablets enteric coated?
Enteric coating resists stomach acid so that the drug is released in the intestine, protecting acid-labile drugs or the stomach lining.
What is a film-coated tablet?
It is a tablet covered with a thin polymer film that masks taste, improves appearance and eases swallowing.
Can extended-release tablets be crushed?
No. Crushing destroys the release mechanism and may deliver the whole dose at once.
Quick revision checklist
Use this self-test after reading the chapter on tablets. If you can do all of the following without looking at your notes, you are ready for the exam.
- I can explain: the definition of a tablet
- I can explain: classification by coating
- I can explain: classification by route
- I can explain: multiple compressed tablets
- I can explain: release-modified tablets
Study and exam tips
Start by reading the chapter once for the overall idea, then revise tablets using headings, definitions, classifications and examples. Short-answer questions in the university exam usually ask for definitions, advantages, disadvantages and examples, so write these in your own words and practise drawing tables and flow charts where the chapter has them.
For wider reading, standard textbooks and open resources such as the NCBI Bookshelf help you confirm terms and see more worked examples. Revise tablets again a day later and again a week later, because spaced revision improves long-term memory.
This page is part of the General Pharmacy series for first-semester B.Pharm students on B.Pharm Guru, where every chapter has a short summary and a full PDF. Bookmark this page and share it with classmates who are preparing for the same exam.
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