Semiautomated aseptic preparation of patient-individual antineoplastic intravenous solutions: first experiences in a German hospital pharmacy

OBJECTIVES: In 2013, the PharmaHelp device was introduced to daily patient care at the University Hospital of Heidelberg in order to improve process and staff safety and health. It is a semiautomated device located in a safety workbench for aseptic preparation with weight-and-visual-supported process check as well as radio-frequency identification of bags and vials. METHODS: After qualification and a training period, several high-admixture-volume drugs were chosen stepwise to be prepared by the device. During a reporting period of 6 months, the number of processed production runs and produced bags were assessed as well as the productivity per hour of the device based on the processed admixing volume and time consumption for manual preprocessing and postprocessing steps. RESULTS: Weight conformity tests of 246 processed bags in 11 admixing-volume ranges showed 99.19% with a deviation of