013 USP Chapter <797> Compliance
The 2013 United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) Chapter
<797> Compliance Survey, the third annual report released since
2011, shows that the overall compliance rate of 77.2% remains
nearly unchanged from the 2012 rate. Budgetary restrictions
and physical plant limitations were among the top challenges to
compliance by survey respondents. The report also details the
survey’s findings on what types of facilities are participating in
compounding, and compliance in specific domain areas such as
environmental sampling and gloved fingertip sampling. Of the
survey’s 1,045 participants, 97% of the survey’s respondents
said that USP Chapter <797> “has had a positive influence on
patient safety.” The report notes National Association of Boards
of Pharmacy
®
(NABP
®
) efforts to assist state boards of pharmacy
in evaluating pharmacy compliance with USP Chapter <797>
requirements for sterile compounding in their states. The report
also noted that those who participated in the 2011 survey had a
higher compliance score than those who did not. The survey’s
authors encouraged pharmacy owners with multiple areas of
noncompliance to target one or two areas to improve. They
also encouraged organizations that participated in the survey to
make use of the free Action Plan – generated upon completion
of the survey – and other free resources to “reshape” their sterile
compounding practices. The full report on the survey’s results
is available in the October 2013 issue of
Pharmacy Purchasing
& Products Magazine
and on the magazine’s Web site at
www.pppmag.com/article/1403