The Pew Charitable Trusts, American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the American Hospital Association made five initial recommendations to improve the safety of pharmacy sterile compounding, according to an AHA News Now report.
The organizations reached a consensus on initial recommendations at a Pharmacy Sterile Compounding Summit in February, which was held in response to a fungal meningitis outbreak last year caused from a compounding pharmacy's contaminated medication, according to the report. The groups also identified areas for further investigation and potential action.
Here are the initial recommendations from a recently released summary report of the meeting:
1. Clarify the role of federal and state bodies with oversight of sterile compounding.
2. Strengthen federal oversight of activities that are not currently overseen as traditional pharmacy compounding by states and represent a higher degree of patient safety risk.
3. Better define and standardize licensing categories for patient care sites, companies and other entities involved in sterile compounding activities.
4. Explore developing a set of standards to facilitate oversight of large-scale sterile compounding activities.
5. Standardize training of pharmacy inspectors, survey processes and assessment tools.
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The organizations reached a consensus on initial recommendations at a Pharmacy Sterile Compounding Summit in February, which was held in response to a fungal meningitis outbreak last year caused from a compounding pharmacy's contaminated medication, according to the report. The groups also identified areas for further investigation and potential action.
Here are the initial recommendations from a recently released summary report of the meeting:
1. Clarify the role of federal and state bodies with oversight of sterile compounding.
2. Strengthen federal oversight of activities that are not currently overseen as traditional pharmacy compounding by states and represent a higher degree of patient safety risk.
3. Better define and standardize licensing categories for patient care sites, companies and other entities involved in sterile compounding activities.
4. Explore developing a set of standards to facilitate oversight of large-scale sterile compounding activities.
5. Standardize training of pharmacy inspectors, survey processes and assessment tools.
More Articles on Sterile Compounding:
Survey: 11% of Pharmacists Reported Contamination of High-Risk Compounded Sterile Products in Past YearInstitute for Safe Medication Practices Issues Guidelines on Sterile Compounding
ASHP Offers Guidelines on Pharmacy Compounding in Wake of Contaminated Steroid Injections
