Our institution is in the process of revamping our alcohol withdrawal order set to allow more liberal use of phenobarbital. With the change patients may receive a single loading dose of up to 15 mg/kg. We have received a question of whether patients receiving these higher doses need to be monitored on telemetry (due to bradycardia risk), but we have not historically required such monitoring for phenobarbital.
Do any institutions require telemetry monitoring during loading doses of IV phenobarbital? If so, how long does this monitoring occur?
Thank you,
James
UW Medicine