Company Offers Pre-filled, Color-coded Perioperative Anesthesia

PharMEDium Services, LLC offers compounded pre-filled, perioperative anesthesia drugs, an effort devoted to reducing medication errors and improving operating room (OR) efficiencies. The service line covers the most commonly used drugs in the OR, including about 75 percent of those typically used in surgical procedures, according to Rich Kruzynski, RPh, PharMEDium president.

“The major features of this new service offering — enhanced labeling, color coding consistent with physician practice, and dual banding of the drug name — are designed with quality, patient safety, and efficiency as the paramount factors,” Kruzynski says. “The pre-filled OR anesthesia preparations may improve the ability of anesthesiologists, nurse anesthetists, and pharmacists in the perioperative setting to provide optimal patient care and reduce the potential for medication errors.”

Compounded ready-to-use preparations address a host of OR risk factors such as “look-alike” vials, syringes, and high-risk medications that lack labels and bar codes.

The service line uses labels for Anesthesiology conforming to standards of the American Society for Testing and Materials (ASTM). To enhance drug recognition, PharMEDium color-codes syringe preparations by class (orange for sedatives, red for neuromuscular blocking agents [NMBs], blue for narcotics, etc.) consistent with these standards. Drug names are color-coded and dual-banded (so physicians can see the drug name on a syringe from any angle), and shapes on labels assist in distinguishing concentrations of drugs within families. Labels clearly show an RSS composite bar code, including NDC number, lot, and expiration date, so hospitals can better track and reconcile high-risk drugs, enhance inventory control, and reduce unused or wasted drug admixtures.

Pre-filled perioperative compounded drugs can free up critical minutes for anesthesiologists and other OR clinicians to attend to patient needs and ensure the highest quality, according to Kruzynski. “Proper administration of antibiotics and beta blockers is critical to improving surgical outcomes and reducing surgical complications. This initiative is a helpful step toward that end,” he adds.

Source: PharMEDium Services, LLC

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