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Use safe practices in labeling drugs

Ambulatory Safety Monitor, February 9, 2006

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Your facility may have medication management techniques that work, but you should always seek out ways to improve your practices, says Ken Speidel, PharmD, vice president of Northcoast Infusion Therapies, Ltd. in Oakwood Village, OH.

Speidel offers the following best practice suggestions that you may want to incorporate into your practices:

• Label everything going in or on a patient (e.g., syringes, basins, IV bags, etc.) when it leaves your hand.
• Make labeling an easy step. Create labels before preparing the syringe or container. If your organization does not have an automated medication order and labeling system, most word processing programs can create preprinted label templates. When designing the labels, create a space for the dose, lot number, and initials. Make several extra sheets of labels for each injectable or solution that you prepare, Speidel says.
• Create a log for documenting the order, prescriber, patient dose, lot number, and expiration date. Lot numbers from the original manufactured or compounded product are important in the event of a drug recall, which is not all that uncommon.
• Obtain and maintain accreditation. "This forces you to maintain an edge knowing another set of eyes are looking," Speidel says.
• For any chemicals you obtain (e.g., acetic acid), request a certificate of analysis. This will list the ingredients and purity of the product from the manufacturer.

This tip was adapted from Briefings on Ambulatory Accreditation, a monthly publication that reports on the activities of ambulatory care accreditors, the JCAHO, and the AAAHC. Click here for more information or to subscribe.

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