Winship pharmacy technician Daniel Tharps prepares the compounding of a chemotherapy medication.
Winship Cancer Institute of Emory University (Winship) celebrated the opening of a new infusion pharmacy in Winship's ambulatory infusion center on the Clifton campus on July 15, 2020.
The new sterile compounding pharmacy has sufficient space to house seven biological safety cabinets which will be used to safely and efficiently compound all intravenous cancer medications delivered to patients in the infusion center.
"We developed this pharmacy in partnership with frontline staff and with patients to ensure that this pharmacy has efficient workflows and highly reliable and safe compounding practices for the timely preparation of cancer medications," says Director of Pharmaceutical Services Ryan Haumschild, PharmD, MS, MBA.
This pharmacy will facilitate the sterile compounding of a variety of treatments including: chemotherapy, immunotherapy, conjugated therapies, and biosimilars.
Melissa Childress, vice president of Winship Cancer Services says, "This new pharmacy reaffirms Winship's commitment to utilizing state of the art facilities for high-quality cancer patient care while remaining compliant with the latest standards."
The new infusion pharmacy, which officially opened on June 22, will be USP <800> compliant, a designation which indicates the highest practice and quality standards for the handling and compounding of potentially hazardous compounds to promote patient safety, worker safety, and environmental protection.
"The new pharmacy is a vital part of safely increasing efficiency for our patients in our infusion centers," says Walter J. Curran, Jr., MD, Winship executive director, the Lawrence W. Davis Chair in Radiation Oncology and the Georgia Research Alliance Eminent Scholar and Chair in Cancer Research. "The collaboration across disciplines in this project is representative of The Winship Way, an ongoing effort centered on delivering exceptional cancer patient-centered care."
The Clifton campus infusion center is Winship's largest infusion center, serving more than 150 patients daily.
