Compounding or mixing patient-specific medications has been a pharmacy responsibility for many years.Not until the mid-twentieth century did most drug products become commercially available. Currently pharmacies compound only a small percentage of total doses, sterile products being the most common. These doses are prepared in specially designed clean rooms by trained technicians employing special techniques to ensure sterility of the dose.
The number of compounded sterile products (CSPs) has risen in the past several years due to shortage of commercial products and more recently due to quality control issues at several large custom compounding suppliers. While technicians and pharmacists are trained to compound sterile and nonsterile products, record keeping and documentation present major issues.
In most pharmacies the lot number and expiration of ingredients are recorded in a logbook along with the signatures of the person compounding and verifying the product. The lot number and beyond-use date are usually hand written on the label of the finished product and difficult for the nurse to read. Additionally, pharmacy-compounded products may not have readable barcodes for the nurse to scan during administration. This manual documentation is unsuitable for tracking and retrieval in the event of a recall or other issue involving one of the ingredients.
Our pharmacy employs barcode scanning and image capture technology to record lot and expiration during compounding of both sterile and non-sterile products. This information is stored electronically and easily retrieved if needed. Incorporation of barcode scanning into the compounding process helps ensure the correct ingredients and amounts are used before the product is prepared and electronically captures critical document during the compounding process.
Upon completing this session, attendees will be able to:
• Contrast commercially available pharmaceuticals with compounded products.
• Identify issues of sterile and non-sterile compounding.
• Describe the benefits of incorporating barcode scanning into the compounding process.
The number of compounded sterile products (CSPs) has risen in the past several years due to shortage of commercial products and more recently due to quality control issues at several large custom compounding suppliers. While technicians and pharmacists are trained to compound sterile and nonsterile products, record keeping and documentation present major issues.
In most pharmacies the lot number and expiration of ingredients are recorded in a logbook along with the signatures of the person compounding and verifying the product. The lot number and beyond-use date are usually hand written on the label of the finished product and difficult for the nurse to read. Additionally, pharmacy-compounded products may not have readable barcodes for the nurse to scan during administration. This manual documentation is unsuitable for tracking and retrieval in the event of a recall or other issue involving one of the ingredients.
Our pharmacy employs barcode scanning and image capture technology to record lot and expiration during compounding of both sterile and non-sterile products. This information is stored electronically and easily retrieved if needed. Incorporation of barcode scanning into the compounding process helps ensure the correct ingredients and amounts are used before the product is prepared and electronically captures critical document during the compounding process.
Upon completing this session, attendees will be able to:
• Contrast commercially available pharmaceuticals with compounded products.
• Identify issues of sterile and non-sterile compounding.
• Describe the benefits of incorporating barcode scanning into the compounding process.
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