Recommandations pour la préparation des mélanges de nutrition parentérale

The pharmacists of the French Society of Enteral and Parenteral Nutrition (SFNEP) issued recommendations concerning the preparation of parenteral nutrition (PN) mixtures in order to facilitate and rationalise the professional practices. These recommendations were written according to the text of the Bonnes pratiques de préparation à l'hôpital (BPPrH) written by a group of experts coordinated by the Agence française de sécurité sanitaire des produits de santé (Afssaps). The aim of this work is to promote the quality of the parenteral nutrition by establishing a reference manual listing the quality criteria that each unit in charge of preparing the PN should respect. The reference manual contains eight chapters containing 126 quality criteria. Explications and remarks are provided with some of these criteria. The main recommendations concerning the preparation of the PN are the following: 1) General principles on the elaboration and the upholding of the quality. 2) The description of the documentary system. 3) The staff and its formation. 4) The buildings and equipments: statutory and practical aspects. 5) The raw materials used in the preparations and their specifications. 6) The preparation itself. 7) The controls that have to be put in place. 8) The management of the anomalies. Five appendices were written up on particularly important items concerning the documentary system and the microbiological controls.