Understanding medication compounding issues

The potential for contamination of compounded products and the resulting infections are a serious threat to patient safety. Immediate use products are used frequently in the perioperative department, and perioperative nurses should be familiar with the guidelines and practices that aim to reduce the contamination that can occur during the sterile compounding process. Four common themes lead to successful compounding: quality (eg, product identification, purity, stability, compatibility, risk level assessment), the environment (eg, using a segregated compounding area with specialized airflow capabilities, reducing particulate matter, practicing proper hand hygiene, performing gloved fingertip sampling, properly cleaning equipment and work areas), personnel activities (eg, familiarity with types of containers used and how often they can be accessed, following expiration dates and the number of times containers can be accessed), and the control process (eg, process monitoring, quality improvement). If a third-party vendor is contracted to handle compounding for a facility, perioperative personnel should be aware of the responsibilities for the facility and the vendor to ensure a quality compounding program.