Implementing a Hazardous Pharmaceutical Waste Management Program

Environmental and regulatory drivers to develop and implement a hazardous pharmaceutical waste management program are becoming more insistent. The Joint Commission is also including pharmaceutical waste management as a survey item. This timely audio session will focus on why pharmaceutical waste has become such an issue now and what your facility must do to come into compliance. The EPA's complex Resource Conservation and Recovery Act will be examined as it applies to pharmaceutical waste. Steps towards implementation will be discussed, and several implementation models examined.

Learning Objectives:

• Describe the general effects of endocrine disruption and its relationship to pharmaceutical waste disposal.
• Define a hazardous pharmaceutical waste in terms of waste codes.
• Define the four characteristics of hazardous waste.
• Describe the maximum civil penalty for hazardous waste violations.
• List the five primary implementation models for managing hazardous pharmaceutical waste.

Presenter:

Charlotte A. Smith, R. Ph., M.S.
President
KPharmEcology Associates, LLC

Charlotte Smith is President of PharmEcology Associates, LLC which she founded in 2000 to assist the healthcare industry in reducing and managing pharmaceutical waste. She co-founded Capital Returns, Inc., a nationally known pharmaceutical reverse distributor in 1991 and for 10 years served as President and Chief Regulatory Advisor. Ms. Smith is a Registered Pharmacist who received her BS in Pharmacy and MS in Continuing and Vocational Education from the University of Wisconsin. She is a member of the Pharmacy Society of Wisconsin, the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists, and the American Society for Healthcare Environmental Services. She also serves on the NIOSH Hazardous Drug Working Group.

Continuing Education:

• This program meets the requirements for CHFM and CHSP Continuing Education Credits.