Hello all,

I help manage 23 smaller, critical-access hospitals within our health organization. One of the struggles we have been having are nurses/providers not knowing they have certain meds available (ie Kcentra, nicardipine, praxbind, etc).

Often the smaller sites will transfer these pts to a higher acuity of care to our larger medical centers and assume they don't have access to some of these critical meds. We have pharmacist on-site (not 24/7) and a remote service who manages after hours.

What are healthcare facilities doing in regards to Ammonia Inhalants? I was under the impression that they would eventually all be phased out due to the CARES act, but there seems to be a resurgence in their availability. Are your facilities still stocking or have you made them non-formulary?

Hello,
I am in the process of expanding Medication safety in my system. What type of structure do other systems/hospitals have? Currently, I report up to Quality with no other pharmacists. My thought/research has shown a structure of either a Manager/Director with other medication safety officers reporting up to the manager.
Thank you,
Jen

Hi there,

Has anyone instituted 30 or 60 days expirations on the flavoring oils used in Anesthesia masks? We are worried about contamination if they are kept to the full manufacturer expiration date.

Thanks!
Shannon

Does anyone have a list of non-controlled medications that are susceptible to diversion among healthcare workers? Our compliance officer is interested in using non-controlled meds like triggers to help identify employees that may be diverting or otherwise masking controlled substance issues.

Our system has converted vincristine to IVPB to prevent mishaps with inadvertent intrathecal administration. However, we are now faced with other low volume pediatric IV chemo regimens. Our peds group would like these delivered in IV syringes rather than IVPB to decrease volumes lost in IVPB tubing. These regimens are different than vincristine type regimens (IE no IT meds accompanying), but I don’t want to overlook something. How are others handling low volume chemo agents? Do I need to worry about inadvertent intrathecal administrations with other non-vincristine-based regimens?

We have a shortage of NS vials used by nursing for reconstitution. They want to use flush NS syringes which is concerning if medication were to be drawn back up into the flush syringe. Though, we are also simultaneously experiencing a shortage of 50mL and 100mL NS mini-bags so it is tough to recommend that due to shortage and waste issues.

Good Afternoon,

Has your institution developed a policy on biosimilars? Are you willing to share that policy?

Thank you!

Good Morning,

In our institution we record and report adverse drug reactions that happen in our infusion center dependent on severity. I was wondering if any of you have decided which ADRs to record for checkpoint inhibitors? Do you record it based on the severity of the grading system toxicity? thank you