One of my roles as a doctoral student is to serve as a teaching assistant to pharmacy students. Over the summer I was a teaching assistant in the sterile compounding lab.
I found this lab really interesting and it reminded me that compunding is one of the things I really love about pharmacy. Compounding is the preparation of medications to meet a patient’s specific need usually in doses or dosage forms that are not commercially available. It is divided broadly into two, non sterile compounding and sterile compounding.
Sterile compounding as the name implies means that the compunding process is performed in a sterile environment and the medications compounded must be sterile as they are majorly intravenous medications which go straight into the blood stream.
One of the processes a pharmacist or technician compounding must do before going into the sterile compounding clean room is called garbing.
Garbing is the process of putting on various protective personal equipments and attire. These include shoe covers, haircovers, beard covers where applicable, face masks, then a very meticulous hand washing process before putting on a sterile gown and then sterile gloves. These attires are worn at different sections of the intravenous compounding room with the sterile gloves and sterile gown worn just before stepping into the room or section with the cleanest sterile air.
When hazardous medications are being compounded such as antineoplastics used in cancer therapy, then the personal protective wear is doubled and the compounding itself is performed in an isolated hood (the equipment where the compounding itself is done). Other protective measures include no jewelry, make up or nail polish while compounding.
There are two reasons for all of these processes:
1. To protect the patient using the medication by ensuring the medication is being prepared in the most sterile conditions possible and that contamination is minimized.
2. To protect the pharmacy personnel compounding this medications from getting contamination, reactions, accidents etc. This is especially important for hazardous drugs where the fumes of the drugs alone can pose a risk of toxicity to the person compounding it.

I started to think about how garbing applies to us in our regular daily lives. Garbing can be thought of as the processes we take to protect ourselves from being contaminated by influences as well as preventing us from contaminating other people.

In a world where we are constantly bombarded by influences, opinions and expectations. It becomes important that we protect our minds from becoming overwhelmed or contaminated by what we have to see, meet or handle daily.

Some of these garb that I wear include praying and studying the word of God. This ensures my identity is consistently aligned with what God’s word says about me and my mind is constantly renewed. Another way I garb myself is through daily positive affirmations which I draw from what God says about me. I put on the garb of God’s word in my heart and mind and try to ensure that everything I come across that day is filtered through these garbs. Of course some days are easier than the others and some days would require that I double up my defences like in the case of hazardous drugs depending on what I am dealing with but it is clear to me that if I am going to go through my day successfully, I have to put on my garb properly. Even the bible talks about putting on the full armor of God which can be thought of as wearing a full protective garb which includes salvation, truth, righteousness, faith, prayer and the word of God, all of which are necessary to withstand the wiles and devices of the devil we will undoubtedly face each day, infact each minute, so staying fully garbed all the time is the only way we can ensure we are not contaminated or influenced by these wiles which can be external or internal, though our thoughts and perceptions.

Apart from protecting ourselves from what can negatively influence and contaminate, garbing also serves to protect others from us. Like I explained earlier, garbing serves a two way protective purpose and so when we garb up by making our mind right, dealing with habits and mindsets that come with us, we serve to protect others from any negativity or toxicity we can bleed out to them which in turn means we benefit from having pleasant interactions with others.
If we do not work at our daily garbing process, we can end up hurting others and indirectly hurt ourselves because sooner than later, if we keep handling issues and people without the thought of preventing them injury, we would find ourselves in a place where we are no longer allowed to handle or come in contact with what is so important to the health and wellbeing of others.

It is therefore important to ask ourselves daily
Am I fully garbed?
What part of my garb needs to be replaced, changed, improved on or doubled etc?

Taking time to ask ourselves these questions can help us work on our garb which can bring us to a place where we are not contaminated by externalities and ensure we do not serve as a source of contamination to others, which in turn fosters our wellbeing and that of others around us.

It’s time to garb up.