Use of a closed-system drug transfer device (PhaSeal) and impact on preparation time.

PhaSeal is a closed-system drug transfer device which has demonstrated to protect against occupational exposure to antineoplastic agents. Our aim was to assess the impact of the incorporation of PhaSeal on the processing time of chemotherapy. The study was a prospective simulation study which compared the processing times with the traditional open-system technique and using the closed-transfer system. Four experienced pharmacy technicians prepared six batches with each method simulating simple chemotherapy admixture operations. We compared the mean times obtained by student's t test and evaluated the "learning effect" between days by ANOVA. The average percentage of time saving with PhaSeal was 31.7% (time per batch [mean +/- SD] 6.44+0.73 vs. 9.44+0.98 minutes). Mean difference was statistically significant (3.0 min IC95% 2.50-3.50; p>0.0001). No significant learning curve effect was detected. The BD Medical/Carmel Pharma PhaSeal system, in addition to its protective properties, is able to save time in the elaboration process which leads to organization advantages for hospital pharmacy services.