thing from their entry into your facility until they're dispensed. Finally,
reversal drugs such as flumazenil, naloxone, methylene blue and
lipids (Intralipid, for example) must be readily available.
To prevent common medication errors, use these best practices:
• Avoid "do not use" abbreviations in the medical records to limit
the potential for confusion and mistakes.
• Don't "intermingle" or have compartments of carts or trays with
more than 1 drug inside them.
• For handwritten labels, use "Tall Man Lettering" or Upper Case
(DOPamine, for example) to highlight distinctive syllables in similar
looking drugs.
• For pre-printed labels, color-code by classifications (for example,
induction agents in yellow, benzodiazepines in orange, muscle relaxants
in fluorescent red, nar-
cotics in blue, vaso-
pressors and hypoten-
sive agents in violet
and local anesthetics
in gray).
• As with controlled
substances, avoid
stocking more than
one strength of the
same drugs unless it's
unavoidable.
Lidocaine, for exam-
ple, require multiple
strengths.
• Always separate
LASA medications in
A P R I L 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 8 3
