errors and what they can cost your facility. It's definitely worth calcu-
lating how much the reduction in medication errors will save you.
• Shipping costs. Another reason you need to do this calculation
drug-by-drug is to look at your usage patterns so you place your
orders strategically. When you buy prefilled syringes, the beyond use
date (BUD) may be shorter than the vial form. For example, neostig-
mine has a BUD after 18 months in vial form but prefilled syringes of
the drug need to be used in 60-90 days.
5 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A Y 2 0 1 8
If you were to place
the syringes in this
photo drug-name
down in the tray, they
would look identical.
Same blue color on
the label, a flagged
white section of the label common to both syringes and the same
color tamper-evident caps. Not good.
This problem arises because drugs that are repackaged by out-
sourcing facilities are not held to the same labeling standards as
FDA-approved products, according to a report by the Institute for
Safe Medication Practices (osmag.net/K3VccC). Even with tall-
man lettering and different drug names, the syringes look identi-
cal, notes ISMP.
"FDA should not allow products from compounders to follow
different container-labeling standards than commercial manu-
facturers, thus creating unsafe conditions," says ISMP.
— JoEllen McBride, PhD
DON'T GRAB + GO
Be Sure to Read the Label on Prefilled Syringes
• COLOR BLIND Look-alike fentanyl and hydromorphone syringes.
Institute
for
Safe
Medication
Practices
