ISMP just added best practice 23 regarding IV push medications. The first bullet point states to, "Optimize the use of ready-to-administer medications."

I think we would all agree that ready-to-use IV push medications provide great safety benefits, but I think we also need to consider the practicality of this recommendation.

It would be wonderful if MANUFACTURERS would produce more medications in ready-to-use forms. However, they are not always so enthusiastic about making changes to promote medication safety. This is why one of ECRI's top 10 patient safety concerns is "persistent gaps in manufacturer packaging and labeling design continue to undermine medication safety efforts".

I am worried that this best practice will result in undue pressure on hospitals to purchase ready-to-use medications from COMPOUNDERS. These products are typically a lot more expensive and have significantly shorter BUDs. Now that this recommendation is in an official ISMP document, it will be harder to push back on these requests.

I am curious to hear other people's thoughts on this.