Title: storage of the medicaments in the wards
Aimed at: all the wards of the Hospital
With effect from:
Workers concerned: non-pharmaceutical workers managing every day use stores of drugs in the wards
Composed by:
The objective of the standard: to ensure a safe storage of drugs in compliance with the valid legislation after receiving the drugs from the hospital pharmacy
Rules:
1. The drugs are stored in the wards separately from the other material (means of medical instrumentation, disinfectants, food) in lockable areas.
2. The drugs are stored in the original packagings; any repacking of drugs is banned, unless it has already been done in the pharmacy by pharmaceutically qualified persons.
3. The drugs are stored at a given temperature. The temperature of the storage is maintained by means of graduated thermometers. The records of the storage temperature are taken daily, and it must be clear by whom and when a record was taken.
4. Individual batches of particular medicinal preparations must be stored separately, so that the batches of the preparation with the shortest expiration dates are used preferentially when dispensed to the patients. The expiration dates must be regularly checked to ensure that there are not stored, or dispensed to the patients, expired drugs. Increased attention must be paid to drugs with a short expiration date (individually prepared drugs – IPL). The expired drugs are delivered to the hospital pharmacy to be disposed of.
5. Upon storing medicinal preparations with addictive substances content - according to the law No. 167/1998 Sb. - it is necessary to observe the relevant provisions of the law. Special attention must be paid to the storage of drugs containing addictive substances specified in the annex No. 1 and 5 of the law given (“registered opiates”). These drugs must be stored separately from the other drugs in the “non-portable lockable metal boxes” (§ 10 of the law). The keys of the “boxes” must be kept separately and can only be used by designated persons. In compliance with decree 304/1998 Sb. records are kept of the “registered opiates”. The records in the registration books must be made without unnecessary delay as soon as possible after the accomplishment of the registered activity. By the last day of the calendar month a monthly stocktaking is carried out. Expired “registered opiates” are delivered to the pharmacy hospital to be disposed of. The procedure is carried out according to a protocol; the specimen protocol is placed on the Internet.
6. The drugs that were not dispensed by the hospital pharmacy (“drug samples”) must be stored separately from the drugs dispensed by the hospital pharmacy.
7. According to the instruction of The National Institute for Drug Control the people responsible for storage of drugs cooperate with the hospital pharmacy on withdrawing drugs with quality defects.
8. The right storage of drugs is checked by pharmaceutically qualified people of the hospital pharmacy. This check can be unannounced and the ward must stand it. A record is taken of the check performed in three copies – one copy is filed in the ward, the second one in the hospital pharmacy and the third one with the staff nurse.