The Canadian Society of Hospital Pharmacists is set to release new guidelines for preparing medications for latex-allergic patients. The guidelines also recommend standard procedures to prevent and treat occupational latex allergy. We need standard pharmacy procedures, and hopefully these guidelines will help to work toward a latex-free environment.
Some patient populations are also at an increased risk.
Before adoption of precautions in 1987 that included increased use of latex products, NRL allergy was not an issue. So all of a sudden, an enormous number of people were being exposed to latex everywhere they went. About 50 of the 200 proteins in NRL are known to cause adverse reactions. In 1991, in response to several deaths following anaphylatic reactions from latex-tipped catheters, Health Canada released a medical alert that contained four recommendations for safe handling of patients with NRL allergies. Although many hospitals across Canada have developed and implemented their own procedures since then, the new guidelines provide standard protocols for personnel training, identification of NRL-containing items, safe procedures for sterile preparation, special labelling and quality assurance.