Careers in Chemistry

Infusion Pharmacy

Infusion therapy involves the administration of medication into the bloodstream, under the skin, and into the spinal cord.  The medications include antibiotics, pain management, chemotherapy, hydration, growth hormones, intravenous nutrition, and several others that can be administered through infusion.  There are a variety of diagnosis that involve treatments via infusion.  Before the popularity of this field grew, patients would be in the hospital for days finishing their treatments.  However, because of infusion pharmacy, patients are now free to continue their treatments in the comfort of their own home. 

The job of an infusion pharmacist includes several responsibilities.  One responsibility is knowing the chemistry of the medications that they are preparing for infusion.  Knowing the stability of the compounds used in the medication allows the pharmacist to accurately predict the length of time the medication is good for before expiration.  This helps the pharmacist know how much of the medication they can mix up and send out to a patient's home at a time.  Also some of the medications that these pharmacist deal with are radioactive.  Knowing the stability allows them to take precaution where needed in handling possible radioactive chemicals.  It also allows the pharmacist to pick the best container for the medication.  Some types of medications can eat through certain types of bags and some are not stable in syringes while others are.  These types of pharmacist are also responsible for more math than most retail pharmacists.  They have to know the concentrations of the compounds they are mixing.  This allows the pharmacist to know the minimum volume they can use in mixing a medication.  They also have to know drug interactions.  Infusion pharmacists are responsible for knowing the interactions between not only other infusion medications but the possible drug interactions between the patients regular/daily medications.  The pharmacist is also responsible for making sure that their laboratory stays sterile.  The labs have to be clean because the medications have to stay sterile for longer periods of time.  All of these responsibilities are what makes an infusion pharmacist so unique and an important factor in the medical field.

References

• National Home Infusion Association, http://www.nhianet.org/faqs.htm

• Jill Wolf, Pharm. D, former Infusion Pharmacist at American Home Patient

Page Prepared by

Greta Schmidt