THE PHYSICAL PLANT AND ITS EQUIPMENT

The Minimum Standard for Pharmacies in Hospitals provided as follows:

“Adequate Pharmaceutical & administrative facilities shall be
provided for the Pharmacy Department, including especially:
(A) the necessary equipment for the compounding, dispensing
and manufacturing of Pharmaceuticals and parenteral
preparations, (B) bookkeeping supplies and related materials
and equipment necessary for the proper Administration of the
department, (C) an adequate library and filing equipment to
make information concerning drugs readily available to both
pharmacists and physicians, (D) special locked storage space to
meet the legal requirements for storage of narcotics, alcohol and
other prescribed drugs, (E) a refrigerator for the storage of
thermo labile products, (F) adequate floor space for all
Pharmacy operations and the storage of Pharmaceutical at a
satisfactory location provided with proper lighting and
ventilation.”
 FUNCTINAL PLANNING: -
 Many competent authorities have stated
that before the architect’s pencil, touches paper, he
must become thoroughly familiar with the hospital’s
objectives, plan of operation and operational policies
relating to the area to be designed.
 The architect may gather this information
by attending various meetings with the hospital
administrator, the Department head and the Building
Committee. During these sessions, many questions
will be asked and at their conclusion it is possible that
a special study or survey will be conducted to
confirm or establish the need.
 THE PHYSICAL PLANT AND ITS
EQUIPMENT: -
 The physical plant and its’ equipment is the
general concept and planning of the location, physical
space, equipments and furnishings of particular
services required for Pharmacies in a hospital.
 OR
 Planning
 Location
 Concept of sub Pharmacies
 Floor space
 No of beds
 Work load
 Clean up area, non sterile mixing,
 Pre-packing area, injection reconstitution
 Labeling & inspection room, quarantine, storage area.
 Equipments
 Service options

 Choices of internal activities

 Work load/work flow

 Automation, work area, ways of communication &

transport
 Temp. cont: facility, environment

 Equipment: selection

 Furnishings
 Lighting

 Transportation

 Plumbing

 Furnishing (finishing)
  PLANING: -
Prior to exposure to the architect and trustees, the hospital
pharmacist should become acquitted with the overall planning
process.
Steps for developing a functional program and supporting
materials for the architect are:
 To identify hospital purposes and goals.
 Determination of Pharmacy objectives and plan of operation.
 Determination of functions to be performed.
 determination of work flow and procedures
 Estimation of work load.
 determination of work areas needed
 Determination of personnel to be accommodated in each work
area.
 determination of space, shape, furniture, equipment and
service needs of each work area
 Determination of relation ships b/w work areas and between
the Pharmacy and other Departments.
 Arrangement of work areas to maximize the performance
functions.
 Designing of schematic floor plans to meet requirements.
 Evaluation of effectiveness of each design for meeting
requirements.
 Review the above steps until an optimal design emerges.
 LOCATION: -

 The hospital Pharmacy should be located in an area which

is convenient for providing service to the many Departments
and personnel who make daily use of such service. It should
also be easily accessible to inpatients and out Patients. To
provide services to the number of Departments of hospital and
all nursing stations, Pharmacy should be located on the first
floor. It must also be immediately adjacent to the out Patient
Department.
 The convenience of provision of the services, easy
accessibility by both in and out Patients are required for
rendering of efficient Pharmacy services and to conserve man
hours the location of the Pharmacy at the first floor of the
hospital is an ideal condition; where as the basement is not
desirable for the location of hospital Pharmacy.
 CONCEPT OF SUB-PHARMACIES: -
 A hospital in which all the inpatient
clinical Departments are not in close vicinity of the Pharmacy
Department, a concept of sub-Pharmacies can be implemented.
Under this arrangement, the sub-sections of main Pharmacy
can be established in the adjacent area of each clinical service.
This concept has been resulted form the advent of clinical
Pharmacy programs which necessitated the development of
satellite Pharmacies on more than one Patient area to cut the
cost on transportation system.
 These sub-Pharmacies are direct under the control
of the main Pharmacy, staffed with a pharmacist and
receive their supplies from the main Pharmacy . The
number of the satellite Pharmacies depends on the
diversity of the clinical services and distance of each
service form the main Pharmacy .
 The advantage of this concept is of being able to
respond to clinical needs of the patients on a current
basis. In addition this system will enable the
pharmacist to provide Pharmaceutical services to the
Patient, Physician, and nurse in a clinical capacity
rather than as just a dispenser of medications
 FLOOR SPACE: -
 The space allocation to a floor is based on the
number of beds or work load of out patient. The
allocation on the basis of beds perhaps works well
when a single service of dispensing is to be provided
as in the past. Under current Pharmacy practice
varied functions and services are being provided
ranging form standard type dispensing methods to
unit dose dispensing methodologies. Involvement
with intravenous additive programs, drug information
center’s and clinical Pharmacy programs demand an
effective method of space allocation. The space
requirement of the hospital Pharmacy is dictated by
the following factors.
 Degree or scope of services rendered.
 Type of equipment used in the programs
 Expected future expansions.
 The floor space is required for the following areas: -
 (A) CLEAN-UP AREA: -
 A clean-up area is the demand of a Pharmacy involved in
compounding or manufacturing of extemporaneous
preparations. The desirable features for clean-up area include
appropriately located pass through windows and a floor are
with a floor drain.
 A clea-up room shared by centeral sterile supply room and
Pharmacy is the most efficient, and prevents duplication at
both sites are economical.
 (B) NON-STERILE MISING & FILLING ROOM: -
 This area is specifiedfor the mixing and filling of the non-
sterile extemporaneous preparations. In this area, the mixing
and filling of liquids must be separted form that of the
ointments, though both may be in the sdame room. In this area
besides mixing and stirring, the provision of weiging and
measuring homogenization, filtration and filling should also be
made. Adequate space must be provided for storage purpose.
 (C) PREPACKAGING AREA: -
 An area inph for the packaging of
oral solid dosage forms into containers is called
prepackaging area. If the space is available a the
ectemporaneous preparation area, prepackaging can
be accomplished in this area.
 (D) INJECTION RECONSTITUTION AREA: -
 The injection reconstitution area is a
place for addition of water for injection for powdered
form injectables. This area must be equipped with
adequate number of laminar air flow hoods,
horizontal as well as vertical, depending upon the
product handled for aseptic handling of injectables
and the process of reconstitution.
 (E) LABELING & INSPECTION ROOM: -
 The labeling and inspection room of
hospital Pharmacy manufactured products is to be
located adjacent to filling areas, separated by pass-
through windows. This pass-through window is used
for transfer of unlabeled products to eliminate any
possibility of their premature usage. At this area,
sufficient storage space must be available for labels,
printing machine accessories etc.
 (F) QUARANTINE STORAGE AREA: -
 The quarantine storage area is an
area where the manufactured or filled products in the
Pharmacy are detained until declared “pass” the
chemical & biological quality control testing.
 EQUIPMENT PLANNING: -
 The equipment planning and subsequent
purchase of major equipments for Pharmacy is the joint
responsibility of hospital administrator, pharmacist purchasing
agent and the architect. The purchasing agent usually
purchases commonly used equipments in daily professional
practice after consulting with pharmacist.
 The equipment planning will largely
depend on the number, varieties and per day duration of
services offered from the hospital Pharmacy. The type and
number of equipments can be evaluated on the basis of
determination of their relative significance and rating by
classifying them into deserving essential considerations
requiring further study before being included or excluded and
can be included. This principle can be implemented for all of
sections, services, functions and activities of the Pharmacy
Department the following are the parameters which will
dictate the equipment planning.
 (A)SERVICES OPTIONS: -
 The options for services are inpatient
services, out Patient services, bulk compounding, packaging,
Pharmacy education, research program, drug information,
poison control centre, night emergency service and drug
surveillance.
 (B) CHOICES OF INTERNAL ACTIVITIES: -
 The internal choices of activities may
include type of distribution system, filling of order, delivering
of orders to nursing station, handling of I/V admixtures and
controlled drugs maintenance of the medical profile.
 (C) WORKLOAD & WORK FLOW: -
 Equipment planning will require the
determination of workload and work flow in the Department.
 (D) AUTOMATION: -
 Degree of automation required and
location where it is required.
 (E) WORK AREAS: -
 The space requirements for administrative
offices, officers’ offices and for other work areas.
 (F) WAYS OF COMMUNICATIONS & TRANSPORT: -
 Ways of communications & transport
include the number of telephone/fax required & internet etc.
 (G) TEMPERATURE CONTROLLED STORAGE: -
 Hospital pharmacist is well aware of the
need for air conditioning and temp. Control in hospital
Pharmacy storage requirements of drugs are the important
stability factor for him. The drug storage temperature
requirements are any one of the following.
 REFRIGERATOR: - a refrigerator is a cold place providing
a temperature of b/w 2 oC-8 oC.
 COLD PLACE: - a storage condition has a
temperature not exceeding 8 oC.
 COOL PLACE: - a cool place specifies a temperature of 2
oC-15 oC.
 ROOM TEMPERATURE: - room temperature is b/w 15
oC-30 oC.
 EXCESSIVE HEAT: -the excessive heat indicates
temperatures above 40 oC. This temperature is forbidden for
various drugs by mentioning “avoid excessive heat” which
means that the drug must not be exposed to a temperature
above 40 oC.
 Drug storage and safety is the responsibility of a
pharmacist, so a pharmacist must ensure the availability of
appropriate storage facilities respective to each drug. a
refrigerator and a freezer will solve this purpose. An
innovative approach that provides adequate space and
appropriate cold temperature for storage of drugs is the
construction of a cold room.
 The cold room is artificially cooled area with a regulated
temperature of 12-15 oC. The construction and operation of
cold room is economical and provides a convenient method of
cold storage of drugs with in the Pharmacy or area under
Pharmacy.
 (H) ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROLLED FACILITIES
(VENTILATION): -
 Air-conditioning of the Pharmacy is
desirable for following reasons:
 It provides the ventilation even when the windows and doors
are closed. Opening of the windows and doors is associated
with the entrance of dirt, dust and other environmental
contaminants.
 The use of various autoclaves, ovens and steam jacketed
kettles may render the working environmental too hot.
 It permits maintenance of a temperature compatible with
official storage requirements for drugs irrespective of climatic
conditions.
 Adequately removes strong odors characteristic of the
chemicals used in the manufacture of the various
galenicals, preservative fluids and reagents.
 Since the doors and windows can be kept closed,
there can be effected a saving in the cost of house
keeping service in the Pharmacy.
 (I) ENVIRONMENTAL CONTROL
REQUIREMENTS: -
 Apart from the temperature,
humidity and aseptic environment for equipment
planning other factors taken into consideration are
volume of dispensing number of people who will be
in any one sector of the Pharmacy at any single time,
peak dispensing hours, number of nursing stations
and other departments to be serviced.
 EQUIPMENT SELECTION CRITERIA: -
 Each equipment is carefully
selected on the basis of some criteria as
mentioned below:
 efficient provision of services.
 Affordable operating cost.
 Requiring minim at maintenance.
 Offering maximum safe performance.
 It is advisable that for a particular
section of the Pharmacy high value
equipments are to be purchased first and the
low-value equipments after ward.
 Equipments required: -
 Varied scope and services of Pharmacy
Departments of various hospitals make it difficult to prepare a
standard list of equipments inventery can be prepared as a
guide form the catalogues of equipments provided by
equipment manufacturers.
 Equipments required for the Pharmacy are
of two types
 Fixed Equipments
 Movable Equipments
 1. FIXED EQUIPMENTS: -
 The equipments requiring installation and
is to be attached with electric power lines of the building
electric system are not regarded as the fixed equipments. The
example of such equipments are cabinets, counter, & other
types of case work are available.
 The selection of such equipments depends on the required
dimensions materials used in the construction and suitability of
the equipments for particular activity.
 Special attention should be given to the cojnter tops and these
must.
 offer resistance to corrosion and abrasion.
 withstand impact without flaking ped off thin layer or peeling.
 No. or little effect of high humidity.
 high color etention quality if colored to resist appreciable
discoloration.
 must have the abrasion resistant finish-coat.
 reagent resistant finish-coat to acids, alkalies, oils & sovents.
 2. MOVABLE EQUIPMENTS: -
 Moveable equipments are capable of
being moved and are not intended to be permanently
affixed to the building. This equipment catergory
includes large items of furniture and equipment
having a reasonable fixed position in the building but
which can be moved. The examples are carts,
desks,mixers & balances etc.
 FURNISHINGS (OTHER UTILITIES): -
 Other utilities in the department are
require consideration. Thes utilities inlcude electric
lighting, transport system, plumbing and furnishes.
 (A) ELECTRIC LIGHTING & SERVICE: -
 Smooth and safe functioning of any activity require
the appropriate electrical outlets. Lighting will based on the characteristic
of the operation, location and environment. Sufficient lighting must be
provided for the critical work areas such as prescription dispensing area,
manufacturing area, I/V admixture areas and oibrary. Ground electrical
outlets should be provided in all areas in which the use of electrical
equipment may be indicated.
 (B) TRANSPORT SYSTEM: -
 Transportation of different items from Pharmacy to
various destinations in hospitals is a routine matter. The transport, done
with help of messenger porter or helper is less efficient and time consuming
the modern technology has made available some outomated means of
transporting including the conveyor belt etc. these systems have been
successfully implemrntd in nearly all of Pharmaceutical manufacturing
units but not yet experienced in hospital Pharmacy of any institution under
these system, the drugs and supplies can automatically conveyed through
moving belts to the nursing stations & desired destintions. This transport
sytem, conserves Pharmaceutical manpower.
 (C) PLUMBING: -
 The plumbing is the system of
piplines for the supply of wsater to desired areas and
disposal of wastes. It also deals with over all gas
supply pipelines etc. a pharmacist has to advise the
architect about particular details and requirments of
poins for hot & cold water Pharmacy and nature of
materials which will be disposed off through the
waste lines & the number of points required for gas
appliances.
 The plans will properly and clearly
speciafy acid resistant piing, adequate hot & cold
water mixing values, stain less steel sinks, distilled
water lines and attached equipment and other points
and connections.
 (D) FINISHES: -
 1. WORK COUNTERS: -
 The work counter’s in Pharmacy include
those for writing, dispensing, counting of drugs & receipt of
drugs etc. the work tops for preparation must be of such
material that does not show peeling, distwist, derorm toriton
, erosion eat away by gradual action or sticking. Such work
tops may be constructed of stainless steel. Formica or a similar
material is also as an efficient and durable surface.
 2. FLOORS: -
 The floors of the Pharmacy should be
smooth, non-slippery stain resistant and yet complimentary to
the existing or proposed décor of the Department many
flooring materials of these features are currently available that
are highly satisfactory economical and serve the intended
purpose. Some of the floor coverings currently in use are
asphalt tile vinyl tile, rubber tile & heavy duty linoleum.
Carpeting of floors gives aesthetic impact yet in Pharmacy.
 The floors of the Manufacturing and parenteral solutions room
should be supplied with a covered drain system.
 (3) WALLS: -
 The walls of Pharmacy should be painted
with a material that permits periodic washing without the
danger or losing its original color. The walls of the areas like
Manufacturing and parenteral products rooms should not be
painted because it is usually unable to with stand constant
washing necessary for maintenance of desired degree of
asepsis. Here, ceramic tile or other comparable material should
be utilized.


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