Podcast 103 – Avoiding Resuscitation Medication Errors – Part II - a podcast by Scott D. Weingart, MD FCCM
from 2013-07-21T20:32:12
A few weeks ago, I interviewed Bryan Hayes, the Pharm ER Tox Guy, on the subject of avoiding medication errors during resuscitation. That was Part I; today we move on to Part II.
Bryan is a pharmacist with a fellowship in toxicology. He tweets as PharmERToxGuy and blogs at Academic Life in EM.
Insulin Drip Preparation
Flush 20- 50 cc of Insulin/NS drip through all IV tubing, before infusion begins (to saturate the insulin binding sites in the tubing) [UMD's protocol + Yale's]... Goldberg PA, et al. Diabetes Technol Ther 2006;8(5):598-601.
This article states you must prime 20 ml from a 100 ml bag containing Regular Insulin 1 unit/mL (Crit Care Med 2012;40(12):3266)
Nalaxone Dosing
big doses are out, smaller doses are in.
I use 0.4 mg diluted in 10 ml of saline to yield 0.04 mg/ml. Give 1-2 ml at a time. If you think this is an opioid, but that amount didn't work, keep going--some overdoses require a ton of nalaxone
Hydromorphone
Hydromorphone dosing - why are our residents scared to give more than 4 mg of morphine, but have no problem giving 1 mg of hydromorphone (equal to 7 mg of morphine)?
Hydralazine
Hydralazine and its erratic blood pressure lowering in hypertensive emergency
Infusion Deadspace can delay drug initiation
Deadspace when initiating infusions on low ml/hr drips: this may result in an hour between initiation and drug reaching bloodstream. Should we infuse into flowing line? Draw up and inject until it hits vein?
(Anaesthesia 2013;68:640)
This article (Emerg Med J 2007;24:558–559) discusses the perils of ignoring deadspace for infusions
Syringe Labeling
Importance of labeling syringes properly
Should be Generic Drug Name and then concentration based contents (e.g. Succinylcholine 20 mg/ml)
(Br. J. Anaesth 2013;110:1056.)
Top Ten Drug Error Commandments (Abridged for ED Relevan ce)
* Never inject a drug from a non-labelled syringe
* Never inject a drug that you are not familiar with
* Keep all empty vials until you conclude resuscitation
* Whoever injects the drug is responsible for the drug
(Anaesthesia 2013;68:640)
and I would add a 5th
* Show the vial with the syringe you just mixed to whomever will be injecting
EMS Educast has a great podcast on human factors in medication errors
Further episodes of EMCrit Podcast
Further podcasts by Scott D. Weingart, MD FCCM
Website of Scott D. Weingart, MD FCCM