Work overload is related to increased risk of error during chemotherapy preparation

PurposeChemotherapy preparation units face peaks in activity leading to high workloads and increased stress. The present study evaluated the impact of work overloads on the safety and accuracy of manual preparations.MethodSimulating overwork, operators were asked to produce increasing numbers of syringes (8, 16, and 24), with markers (phenylephrine or lidocaine), within 1 h, in an isolator, under aseptic conditions. Results were analyzed using qualitative and quantitative criteria. Concentration deviations of  30% from the expected concentration were considered as accurate, weakly accurate, inaccurate, and wrong concentrations, respectively.ResultsTwenty-one pharmacy technicians and pharmacists carried out 63 preparation sessions (n = 1007 syringes). A statistically significant decrease in the manufacturing time for one syringe was observed when workload increased (p   30%), 6 mislabeling...