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F
or a small physician-owned surgical hospital like ours,
prefilled syringes make perfect sense. They might for
your facility, too. First, though, you'll have to figure out
the math. Because you'll almost always pay more when
you buy drugs in premixed, prelabeled syringes, com-
pared with traditional vials. For those who can't see past the price tag,
this is where the conversation ends. But if you step back and consider
the many benefits you'll receive in exchange, prefilled syringes might
seem like quite the bargain.
• Convenience. For starters, there's the convenience and time sav-
ings of having your medications already drawn up and diluted to the
concentration you specify, and already labeled with name, date of
expiration, concentration of drug and total amount of drug. It can eas-
ily take 45 minutes to draw up and label syringes from multidose
vials. We're the only full-time pharmacy employees at our hospital, so
not having to spend time drawing and diluting the drugs, and signing
Are Prefilled Syringes Worth It?
Yes, you'll spend more, but you'll waste less medication
and you'll spend less time drawing it up and labeling it.
• COST OF CONVENIENCE What's it worth to have
your medications already drawn up and labeled?
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
Joshua Montney, PharmD, MBA, BCPS,
and Johnathan E. Stinnett, CPhT | Plano, Texas
