What is non sterile compounding?

Answer 1

Sterile compounding involves numerous techniques to prevent pyrogens from entering medications. The importance of sterile compounding in intravenous, intraperitoneal, and intrathecal medical preparations arises from a need to prevent health issues like sepsis. For example, if an intravenous medication were to be prepared with bacteria in it, they could multiply in the bloodstream and cause sepsis.

Sterile compounding is usually done in a barrier isolater, laminar or horizontal flow hood, where the air inside the chamber is either isolated from outside air, or forms a curtain of clean air such that room air does not enter. In this way, bacteria in ambient air does not enter the preparations which are being created in the hood.

Sterile compounding is usually most common in a hospital pharmacy, whereas non sterile compounding is used in hospital and retail pharmacies. Instead of preparing sterile medications, such as those delivered intravenously, non sterile preparations are prepared in the open without isolation from the outside. While pharmacists and pharmacy technicians maintain hygienic conditions during preparation, the medication is exposed, during preparation, to bacteria in the surroundings. This is usually not a problem, however, because these medications will be taken orally or dermally, where such contamination presents a very low risk of infection.