Review of manual and automated compounding of intravenous drugs : an update in 2017
6 October 2017
J-D. Hecq , C. Decoster, N. Leonard, C. Pirlot, L. Soumoy CHU UCL Namur, site Godinne, 1, avenue Therasse , 5530 Yvoir, BelgiumBackground
Automation robots have recently come to the market as an alternative for manual compounding of intravenous (IVD) drugs.
Objectives
To make a review of manual and automated compounding of iv drugs
Material and methods
A literature review was conducted on the reconstitution of IVD. The following methods were identified: manual, semi automatic and automatic. A classification was carried out in 7 categories: manual syringes, automatic syringes, peristaltic pumps, parental nutrition compounders, compounders for intravenous cytotoxic doses, robots for compounding of intravenous cytotoxic doses, robots for compounding of IVD.
Results
A table describes the different features of each device.
The ampuls can not be supported by these robots. Large dosages vials improve the time of reconstitution compared to current dosage vials. The number of compounding robots is increasing.
Advantages of automated preparation are : higher consistency of process and products, higher accuracy of products, Integrated digitized processing, precise, complete documentation, reduced effort and wrist injuries, reduced personnel requirement, increased worker satisfaction.
Disadvantages of automated preparation are : risk of failure / down time, dependency on power supply, software (updates), high investment costs/High maintenance costs, specialized personnel with additional training, decreased worker satisfaction (early adopter), complexity when products are switched or added, potential for new errors.
Conclusion
This review allows the potential user to know the current availability on the market.