Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
by Megan Dobson VN, Animal Cancer Centre, Cannington, WA
Safety is paramount when dealing with vesicant drugs. If they get on your skin or into the environment, they can do a lot of damage. Equashield makes the closed system transfer devices we use when dealing with these types of drugs.
What’s good about it
Equashield makes a variety of devices to keep users safe, including syringes and luer lock devices with female and male adaptors. They make bottle tops that are pressed down to create a closed system with a fully sealed syringe barrel. Normal syringes are prone to plunger contamination. The Equashield syringe maintains a constant pressure equilibrium that reduces the risk of the drug escaping the syringe. These devices provide safety for our staff and our patients.
We’re an animal cancer centre so we are often dealing with toxic drugs. All of the drugs in our chemotherapy room are equipped with Equashield equipment. It takes a bit of training to learn how to use the equipment correctly, but it also simplifies drug preparation once you’re trained.
Most of the equipment is single use as the drugs are so dangerous. All new staff go through the training process on how to use these products. The devices are well-designed and I have never heard of any of them failing. If you’re dealing with a lot of oncology drugs in your practice, this is a brilliant product.
What’s not so good
Time must be taken to complete and fully understand the training before using these products. There are videos online and we have a training box in our oncology department. It contains coloured water and different Equashield devices to get everyone up to speed.
