Biomedical Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
of 0.5% tropicamide/0.5% phenylephrine HCl or
1% cyclopentolate HCl.
While the CDC states: “CHEMPACK participa-
tion is voluntary for public health agencies,” [9] it
is clear that most jurisdictions have (or will) take
advantage of the CHEMPACK program. Hospital
pharmacies have been identified as logical loca-
tions for the storage and maintenance of preposi-
tioned CHEMPAK containers. The justification for
this includes:
Figure 15.2
Sensaphone
®
remote monitoring device.
hospital and community CHEMPACK containers
from the HRSA, CDC and some state agencies.
Statewide distribution of hospitals.
•
Well-known locations within a community.
•
15.1 Strategic National Stockpile
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
and the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) have
created and maintain the Strategic National Stock-
pile (SNS) [1], in an effort to support US states
and possessions in their mounting of a credible
response to public health emergencies. CDC's
Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) has large quan-
tities of medicine and medical supplies to protect
the American public if there is a public health
emergency (terrorist attack, flu outbreak, earth-
quake) severe enough to cause local supplies to run
out. Once Federal and local authorities agree that
the SNS is needed, medicines will be delivered to
any state in the U.S. within 12 hours. Each state has
plans to receive and distribute SNS medicine and
medical supplies to local communities as quickly
as possible. As mentioned previously, hospitals and
communities must plan to rely on their own assets
for 72 hours. In addition to the above described
CHEMPACK, the SNS consists of:
Pharmacist/custodians are well-qualified lice-
nsed personnel in facilities with existing DEA
registrations.
•
Facility characteristics:
•
•
Secure
Already meet state and federal requirements
for the storage of controlled drugs (C-IV,
diazepam)
•
Climate controlled (lighting,
temperature,
•
ventilation, and humidity)
•
Constantly staffed (and monitored).
•
Quality assurance personnel and practices
already in place:
•
Management of expiration dates
•
Organic staff capable of upgrade/
retrofit/remediation actions as needed
The challenge to most pharmacy directors will
be the allocation and preparation of dedicated space
to accommodate the container(s) [9]. Each container
requires about 50 square feet of floor space plus
a isles andmaneuvering space. Containers must also
be sequestered or caged to limit access to unautho-
rized persons and be covered by intrusion detection
devices (Figure 15.2). Adedicated analog phone line
and 115 VAC with UPS backup must be available
to support the remote monitoring equipment. All
CHEMPACKassets remain the property of theCDC
SNS. As is the case with the establishment of local
pharmaceutical stockpiles, hospital pharmacies can
secure grants to fund accommodations for their
•
12 Hour Push Pack [2]: 12 strategically pre-
positioned push packs distributed in such a way
as to be available to any U.S. jurisdiction within
12 hours of a declared public health emer-
gency. These push packs consist of 50+ tons of
medical supplies, equipment and pharmaceuti-
cals, designed to deal with the broad spectrum of
potential bioterror agents. Due to the nature of its
contents, the majority of SNS tonnage will likely
be distributed to a state's hospitals (Figure 15.3).
Such items as cases of IV solutions, ventilators,
