Synopsis
Whether you compound as part of your practice, come December 1. 2019 you will feel the shift created by the USP’s release of the General Chapter on Hazardous Drugs – USP . Since this chapter is based upon long standing OSHA regulation all practitioners cannot afford to ignore the chapter’s impact. However, through all the last-minute wrangling and rumor that parts of the chapter will not be implemented and that some organizations will succeed in delaying or vacating the chapter it is not in any professional’s best interest to ignore this important safety guidance.
USP is based in large part on a NIOSH Alert published in September of 2004 that provided the basis for APhA and ASHP recommendations that followed and since that document lays out the OSHA and NIOSH regulation for employees it can hardly be ignored regardless of what any particular state board of pharmacy may choose to do with their portion of enforcement.
