October 15, 2020: Safety Bulletin - ALERT: Risk of Inadvertent Reconstitution of Medications with Cleaning Products
To combat the spread of COVID-19 through enhanced surface cleaning and disinfection, community pharmacies have been purchasing and storing larger-than-usual quantities of cleaning products, including sanitizers and disinfectants. As a result, some of these products may be purchased in bulk containers and then decanted into other, smaller containers, for ease of handling. As well, some high-strength products must be diluted before use to achieve the desired concentration, which again may involve transfer to separate containers. To accommodate the resulting product volumes, some pharmacies are preparing and/or storing the smaller volumes or diluted products in empty bottles that previously contained distilled water. This bulletin is shared to alert all pharmacy staff to the potentially harmful outcomes of this practice. Read more ...
