Insulin concentration(s) for diabetic ketoacidosis management in pediatrics

PLEASE NOTE:   Posts made to this forum should not be considered as the expressed opinions of, nor should be considered endorsed by, the Medication Safety Officer’s Society (MSOS) or the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP). 

Make sure your email is up-to-date
In order to continue to receive updates from MSOS, as well as forum posts and other valuable information as a member of MSOS, please be sure to update your email address with us, whenever it changes. If you need assistance doing so, please send an email to jgold@ismp.org. 

1 post / 0 new
Log in or register to post comments
Wed, 01/15/2020 - 08:12
#1
Ghadeer Banasser
Ghadeer Banasser's picture
Offline
Last seen: 1 year 1 month ago
Joined: 11/22/2016 - 16:32
Insulin concentration(s) for diabetic ketoacidosis management in pediatrics

Hello All,

I would like to inquire about insulin intravenous infusion concentration(s) that you are using at your facilities for diabetic ketoacidosis management in pediatrics. We had a discussion at our organization about utilizing the ASHP Standardize 4 Safety Proposed Standard Concentrations for Pediatric IV Continuous infusion which calls for 0.05, 0.2, and 1 unit/mL.

Insulin dosing in the pediatric population, as per existing evidence and guidelines, is 0.1 unit/kg/hr. It would be easier for prescribers to calculate the infused volume if preparing 0.1 or 1 unit/mL insulin infusion concentrations, which we are currently utilizing.

We were proposing though to switch to 0.2 and 1 unit/mL insulin infusion concentrations instead, so standard and maximum concentrations are NOT differ by a factor of 10, as recommended by the ISMP Medication Safety Self Assessment ® for High-Alert Medications.

Is this an issue at your facilities, especially those utilizing smart pumps?

Appreciate your input!

Ghadeer Banasser

Tags: 

Top