HCD Mag – Since the USP 800 is directly related to how

Since the USP 800 is directly related to how rooms facilitate the reception, storage, mixing and containment of hazardous drugs with adequate airflow and sterile separation between activities, each pharmacy room must provide access and flow that facilitates movement in and through the pharmacy. To combat the staff isolation that chemotherapy and sterile drug preparation rooms can create under USP 800 due to the air quality requirements of these rooms, Gillette specialized children health care allowed visual and verbal connections through large windows and intercoms. When viewed from the right angle, rather than forcing a redesign, the USP 800 can help a company improve the work environment at the pharmacy and better position the hospital to adapt to future changes in pharmaceutical regulations and medication management in terms of air quality, sterility and staff safety. Although the USP 800 is guided by safety precautions for those who handle and distribute life-saving drugs, it opens the door to a holistic evaluation of a pharmacy system, from how it receives dangerous drugs to how they are delivered by hospital staff. For example, although staff may have free access to the reception room, working in the vacuum environment of a sterile preparation room is often lonely and staff must be dressed, making occasional or short trips out of the room uncomfortable. In the past, the hospital could not compose dangerous drugs in its own pharmacy and, in particular, did not have a single room for its pharmacy, with different functions on different floors. Recognizing the role played by environmental services personnel in infection control and security, the hospital identified cleanliness as an important performance target for its renovated pharmacy. Partitions and windows become an important architectural element in a pharmacy’s compliance with the USP 800 due to different air pressure requirements between the different rooms in the room, such as the incoming goods, the sterile preparation room and the sampling area. To mitigate this problem, Gillette Children’s approached the project by keeping the connections in the room and using large windows along with an intercom to facilitate communication between cleanroom technicians and external pharmacists. This led to a remarkable decision for a small pharmacy: to install a second cooker hood in the pharmacy, allowing staff to continue treating patients even if there is a mechanical failure or a problem with the primary cooker hood. During the modernization to 800 USP, the location of the first floor provided the opportunity to name a large reception room from which the rest of the renovated pharmacy could flow. When the USP 800 2016 was launched, the goal was simple: to protect hospital staff from the dangers posed by potent chemotherapeutic chemicals and other dangerous drugs during compilation. For Saint Paul, Minn. of Gillette Children’s Specialty Healthcare, a national leader in pediatrics who treats some of the most complex and statistically unusual musculoskeletal and neurological conditions, renovating the existing pharmacy to meet USP 800 standards was more than a technical challenge. Floor patterns help delineate these areas and make them clearer to pharmacy and environmental services personnel by cleaning the areas. The priority given to space for the installation of an additional bell carries both risks and costs and benefits, as the cost of a second bell is offset by any risks associated with diversion of preparation activities to another hospital area or off-campus when the bell is taken out of service. Linearly, the reception room is opened for the storage of hazardous materials; a passage window connects the hazardous materials storage area with the clean room to prepare chemotherapy under pressure; then there is an anteroom between the preparation of chemotherapy and the preparation of sterile materials.