Book Review

Handbook on Injectable Drugs (13th ed.)

Larry Trissel, RPh.
American Society of Health- System Pharmacists

The 13th edition of the Handbook on Injectable Drugs should be your first choice reference on sterile-product preparation.

This 1432-page, must-have reference is commonly referred to just as “Trissel’s.” The quintessential reference on sterile compounding, it is a collection of monographs on 297 commercially available drugs in the United States and 25 parenteral drugs available only in other countries outside the United States. Each monograph includes information about products (sizes, strengths, volumes, dosage forms, other ingredients, pH, osmolality, sodium content, and instructions for reconstitution), administration (route[s] by which drugs can be given and rates of delivery), stability (storage requirements, pH effects, the absorption and filtration characteristics of the drugs featured, and the effects of freezing and exposure to light), and compatibility (the compatibility of the drug in various infusion solutions, two or more drugs in intravenous solutions, two or more drugs in syringes, and injection into Y-sites of administration sets). The compatibility information is derived from primary reference sources pertaining to compatibility testing of the subject drug with infusion solutions and its compatibility with other drugs. This easy-to-use reference is organized in alphabetical order by generic drug name and is arranged in a table format. The 13th edition of the Handbook on Injectable Drugs should be required for every pharmacy in which sterile products are compounded.