Phoebe Pharmacy keeps a comprehensive list of all Hazardous Drugs (HD) for each facility to help ensure the safety of our staff and clients. Beginning January 1, 2021 the following procedures will be in place:
1) Each hazardous medication is stored in a separate area of the pharmacy with a yellow “CAUTION” label pictured below. Anyone handling these medications in the pharmacy wears an orange pair of gloves, different from the gloves used in the rest of the pharmacy.
2) In the Parata machine used for dispensing weekly pill packs, hazardous medications are labeled separately from other medications. In the pill packs dispensed, hazardous medications will be in a separate pouch with a label to alert nursing/technicians that it contains a hazardous drug.
3) When handling any hazardous drugs, gloves should be worn. A yellow warning will not only be on the medication label itself, but a written warning will also be included on the Medication Administration Record (MAR) entries, and medication containers to alert those administering the medication that gloves should be worn.
4) HDs requiring crushing will be placed in a plastic pouch in order to eliminate powder into the air. In addition, proper PPE such as gloves should be worn when crushing these medications. Table 1 medications will not be crushed. The plastic pouch shall be discarded in the medication cart disposal bag.
5) Disposal of HDs will be done following usual procedures for the disposal of medications.
6) HD medications are separated by packaging not requiring separation of storage.
If you have any questions regarding our Hazardous Drug policies, please e-mail at crichart@phoebe.org, or call 610-794-5382.