I recently found that our facility has an admission policy saying that any patient given tenecteplase or alteplase needs to stay in the ICU for 12hrs and 24 hrs respectively. I can't find any data that those time periods are required. Alteplase does have specific monitoring parameters for 24 hrs but nothing on ICU length of stay. What do others have for guidelines for ICU length of stay if given these? I'm also curious if others are requiring neuro checks x 24 hrs for these medications for all indications, except line clots?

Our institution recently switched to BD/Alaris for most infusions-

We are running into some barriers with the PCA scanning process. All new PCA syringes are scanned via EPIC BCMA process, but we also find that RNs scan the physical syringe/label when assuming care of the infusion from the prior RN.

Because the PCA is enclosed behind the locked, clear plastic window, RNs are not able to scan the physical syringe or label without first obtaining the key and opening the PCA door. This poses a barrier in their workflow.

At your institution:

Hi everyone,

As a health system expands, the layers of medication safety expand as well. For our health system, a newly developed System P&T overseeing both ambulatory and inpatient settings has requested review of medication errors generated through our internal incident reporting software.

My questions for the group:
1. Are any of you currently sharing medication error data/alerts at the P&T level?
2. If yes, what sort of information is shared (e.g. internal data, ISMP alerts, recall information, etc.)?

Thank you,

Recently nursing was concerned with the use of puralube for patients who are receiving oxygen (due to the flammable nature of the ointment). We changed the ventilator order set to reflect artificial tears instead.

Our hypothermia set however still contains the ophthalmic ointment for patients receiving paralytics. I cannot find a non-petrolatum based ophthalmic ointment.

Please share the product that you utilize in this situation.
Thank you in advance for your feedback!

Would anyone be willing to share their template for their organizational medication safety strategic plan. I am tasked with putting one together for the next year and would like some examples instead of reinventing the wheel!

Thank you in advance!

Would anyone be willing to share a template that they use for their Organizational Medication Safety Strategic Plan? I am tasked to put one together for my organization and wanted to see if others had some good examples to work from.

Thank you in advance!

We are in the midst of evaluating our process of what & how suppositories are supplied to nursing by pharmacy for our pediatric patients.

does your institution have a policy/procedure on how partial suppositories are supplied to patients (do RN's cut vs prepared by pharmacy)?

do you allow more than one suppository to be given to meet ordered dose (i.e. supp is 40 mg, dose is 80 mg- allow 2 supp to be given)?

what type of glycerin and acetaminaphen suppositories do you use- liquid or solid?

Thanks!
Lindsey

Hello,

When a patch (such as clonidine) is held due to parameters, is there a process at your institution to monitor the patient and check when the patch should be given again? For example, since clonidine is given every 7 days, if it's marked as held and there's no follow up, the patient would miss an entire week of clonidine. Do nurses at your institution typically page the provider to inform, recheck again in an hour, hand off to the next shift, recheck again in a day...?

Thank you!

Does anyone have a good process for providing patient education related to Sugammadex?
An additional nonhormonal contraceptive (eg, condom, spermicide) should be used for 7 days after a dose of sugammadex in women using oral or non-oral hormonal contraception.

Who is responsible for identifying and educating patients - nursing, pharmacy, anesthesia? What does the education consist of?

our high alert policy is currently under review. RNs are not required to perform independent double check on subcutaneous administration of heparin per our current policy. We are considering if we should maintain this practice or change it to require a co-signer. What are you currently doing at your respective hospitals. Are all forms of heparin, irrespective of the route co-signed by another RN or only the IVs and the drips? Thanks for your input