USP <800> has brought a lot of attention and new requirements for handling of hazardous medications. There are many touch points and areas to cover when it comes to hazardous medications: receiving, preparation, transporting, administering, and discarding; much of which takes place inside of pharmacies and medical facilities of all types. Classifying drugs by their NIOSH listing and what table they fall in as well as risks they present has been a tedious process and facilities continue this daily.
Areas that continue to be of focus are how hazardous medications are stored and how to transport them, whether it be internally in a hospital system or from a pharmacy to a long-term care facility or clinic. Safety is always the primary concern. A standard practice for many years has been to use chemotherapy drug transport bags for hazardous medications. This has and continues to work well, but with USP 800 there are many types of hazardous medications that are not chemotherapy medications. For this reason, it is nice to separate those medications and use durable bags that have different wording that better reflect what is being stored or transported and medications are not confused as chemotherapy meds or lumped into a generic category of hazardous in which all get thrown into the same printed bag.
Maxpert Medical offers different options for safely storing and transporting hazardous medications. Our durable, 4 mil bags are offered with three print options: Caution: Hazardous Drug, NIOSH Listed HD, and then a bag with just a yellow block and no print. We have had some children’s facilities adopt a simple yellow block bag because the parents of patients were concerned or intimidated when they saw standard hazardous drug print. Of course, we do have chemotherapy transport bags as well so you can still designate appropriately for chemo meds.
With so many types of hazardous medications it is nice to have choices of what types of printed bags can be used, in addition to multiple size options. As you continue through your hazardous drug safety, USP <800>, journey it’s good to rethink how you are transporting your hazardous medications.
To learn more visit: https://maxpertmedical.com/product-category/medication-safety/usp-800-supplies/