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The Virtual Interactive Cleanroom offers a unique opportunity for students, healthcare professionals, and employees of the pharmaceutical and medical device industry to gain customized access to a sterile environment in a safe and unobtrusive manner. The Virtual Cleanroom provides an option for those lacking access to a physical cleanroom. The virtual environment provides students the opportunity to practice sterile product preparation in a USP <797> compliant environment.
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Penguin Innovations Virtual Cleanroom
The cost to build a USP <797> compliant cleanroom has been estimated at between $260 and $520 per square foot. Minimally, an expenditure of $1M would be required to create a functional live unit. USP <797> provides the standards for safe preparation of sterile products in all pharmacy settings. USP <797> is a training essential for pharmacy and pharmacy technician students. Techniques must be assessed annually for those involved in preparing low and medium risk products and semiannually for those preparing high-risk products.
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Unique cleanroom talking points
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Exposure to and understanding of supplies, medications/bags used in the compounding process.
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When students go into a real-world cleanroom after working in the virtual cleanroom they are familiar with terminology and what tools are available in the cleanroom to compound sterile preparations. This gives more time for instruction regarding aseptic technique, and less time spent on basic orientation. A study done at Purdue University College of Pharmacy showed a statistically significant increase in student confidence in all survey questions that related to various steps of the compounding process. Removing the big intimidation factor of being in a cleanroom is a major plus to the virtual cleanroom. ​​
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Self-guided practice with applied calculations and practice reading syringes + feedback.
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Students are given a medication order and they must calculate how much drug is needed based on concentrations. The program then requires students to pull back the syringe to the correct measurement based on their calculations. Students receive immediate feedback (in practice mode), or feedback at the end that tells them if they used the correct amount of drug. This type of immediate and accurate feedback is difficult without direct observation. Also, you can never get enough calculations practice.
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Practice applying key pieces of USP <797> content.
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Proper garbing procedure (hazardous and non-hazardous cleanrooms), first air (horizontal and vertical laminar flow hoods), anteroom vs. cleanroom, line of demarcation, cleaning and disinfecting compounding areas (hood cleaning tutorial and application within the virtual cleanroom), to name a few. Students are applying these core concepts without having to read through pages and pages of material.
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Link to product information.
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Each medication is linked to the DailyMed package insert. This provides students the opportunity to practice using appropriate resources to answer questions such as compatibility, storage requirements, and beyond use dating.
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Please visit the Penguin Innovations website to request a demo, learn more about the Virtual Interactive Cleanroom, or submit general inquiries.
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