Centralized intravenous additive services (CIVAS): the state of the art in 2010.

In hospitals, the major part of the drugs is administered by intravenous way and the majority of the reconstitution of injectable drugs are carried out right before the administration to the patient by the nursing staff. The risks and errors related to the preparation and the administration of the injectable drugs are numerous. The standardization then the centralization of the preparations and reconstitution by the hospital pharmacy make it possible to reduce these various risks and errors. In addition to the preparation of the mixtures of parenteral nutrition as well as doses of anticancer chemotherapy, many other treatments can be taken in charge, such as antibiotics, antiemetics and pain treatments. Consequent equipment is necessary but the realization of these treatments proves non-overdrawn insofar as a certain quantity of production is reached. The reconstitution of the intravenous treatments by a centralized intravenous admixture service guarantees the chemical stability and the microbiological quality of the ready-to-use injectable drugs and contributes to the quality and the total management of the care of the patient.