Process/policy for patients transferred from other hospitals on medication infusions

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Christine C Becker
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Joined: 07/15/2022 - 15:10
Process/policy for patients transferred from other hospitals on medication infusions

We often get patients from other hospitals on IV drips like heparin, nitroglycerin, dopamine, etc. and I'm curious what your procedure and timeline is to confirm rates, concentrations and whether you switch out the bags immediately to your hospital's product when they arrive. We have had some incidents this past month where patients' transferred in were on medication infusions, but the concentrations were different than what our pumps have programmed in and not identified on transfer, or the rate from the transferring institution used different units than our pumps, resulting in medication errors. Do you have a policy that addresses how the drips are reconciled and the time frame to do it in? Do you use up the drips that the patient comes with and switch out once the bag is empty? Is there a time limit for the hospitalist or physician taking the patient to reconcile what infusions to continue and which ones are to be stopped? Thanks for your time.