The pharmacy prepares 5% phenol for OR to use in conjunction with Botox (type A) for neurolysis once weekly. The problem is the stability and sporadic use. I wanted to know if anyone else is doing this procedure using a different product or have recommendations about obtaining phenol with extended stability beyond 7 days please share. Also if your institution has had good success with something else, I'd love for you to share.
This is a children's hospital.

Thanks.

DiAnthia Patrick PharmD
Childrens National Health System

Our Health System is switching from Lantus to Levemir because Lantus price increased by 6800%! In preparing for implementation of the switch, we identified a potential safety issue because the vial of the immediate-acting insulin aspart (Novolog) looks very similar to the vial of the long-acting Levemir (Lantus is a tall and thin vial which helped to differentiate it from the Novolog); both Novolog and Levemir are the same size and shape vial, lettering same font size and color.

Hello, I'd appreciate any information on how other institutions prepare hydrochloric acid infusions. We would like to standardize to 0.1 mEq/mL in a 500 mL bag.

Would anybody be willing share their medication safety scorecard that is either internal to the department, or which gets reported out to system level Quality/Safety committees?
(I'd be happy to provide a summary of all the collected responses.)

thank you!
Susan

Does anyone use an external air bubble detector for syringe pumps that do not have an integrated air bubble detection system (i.e. Alaris)?

If you do not, are you concerned about the potential risk for large air injections?

Randi Trope, DO, MBA, FAAP
Medication Safety Officer
Pediatric Intensivist
Cohen Children's Medical Center
North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System

I've been asked to put together a 1 page educational flyer for nursing about how to properly document medication allergies. I wanted to see if anyone had already done this before I reinvent the wheel. Problems we see with documentation:
-RNs document known side effects as allergies (opioids cause sedation)
-RNs document as an allergy, when "intolerance" or "contraindication" is the more appropriate classification
-If pt reports a family history of an allergic reaction to a med, RN enters it as a patient allergy

I am interested to learn what safety strategies your site has implemented to address the 2013 FDA boxed warning on codeine use in children following tonsillectomy and/or adenoidectomy e.g. removed Codeine from formulary for children, changes to EMR, alerts etc.

For hospitals that serve both adults AND pediatric/neonatal populations. What safeguards (i.e. pharmacist double check, NICU preparations only in syringes, special labeling, etc.)do you have in place to help reduce pediatric/neonatal medication erros??

Any particularly helpful references I should review other than ISMP for improvement ideas?

Thank you in advance!

We are updating our policy regarding administration of cytotoxic oral agents.

Do you wear an impervious gown when giving an oral cytotoxic agent?

Thanks, mm

I am interested in how other facilities are handling HELD medication orders after an OR patient returns to an inpatient bed. We are an EPIC hospital and our system currently places these medications on MAR HOLD status while in the OR. The system changes the order to a MAR UNHOLD status when they return to the nursing unit. The nurse must manually change this status to administer the medication. We are seeing multiple errors where needed medications are not given. I would appreciate any policies that address this issue. We are also looking at possible EPIC system changes.