My Las Vegas end-of-the-year conference week continued with my attendance at the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists Midyear Meeting & Exhibition December 5-6, 2012, at the Mandalay Bay Resort. Approximately 26,000 people attended this meeting, and many great presentations were given.

I had the pleasure of attending a lecture by Eric Kastango on Compounding Conundrums. Eric is a leader in the field of sterile compounding and has been in the industry for many years as a pharmacist, consultant, and an active member of the USP Sterile Compounding Committee. His presentation discussed concerns and the potential problems associated with outsourcing sterile compounded products for hospital pharmacies.

Some of the highlights of his lecture focused on improving systems to ensure optimal compounding care and performing an annual gap analysis for your organization. As a strong advocate for proper technique and procedures for sterile compounding, Eric recommended that hospital pharmacy personnel conduct site visits at facilities for which outsourcing of sterile compounding is performed. I was fortunate to have Eric perform an on-site review of Hartley Medical’s operations in 2006. I hope to have him come out and perform another audit of our facilities and offer direction on how to continue to provide the highest-quality products.

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To watch William Stuart, RPh, give his notations on both the 2012 Environmental Monitoring Conference and ASHP Midyear Meeting, click the video below: