Evidence map›Paper›PMID 18427780›Full record

ArticleIntensive care medicine2008

Variability in the concentrations of intravenous drug infusions prepared in a critical care unit.

Daniel Wren Wheeler, Beverley Ann Degnan, Jobanpreet Singh Sehmi, Rowan Margaret Burnstein, David Krishna Menon, Arun Kumar Gupta

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Article in Intensive care medicine, 2008. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 13 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
13citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

13 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
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  4. Review
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  6. Article
  7. Accuracy of intravenous and enteral preparations involving small volumes for paediatric use: a review.European journal of hospital pharmacy : science and practice · 2018
    Review
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

6 authors.

Daniel Wren WheelerDivision of Anaesthesia, University of Cambridge, Addenbrooke's Hospital, Cambridge, UK. dww21@cam.ac.uk
Beverley Ann Degnan
Jobanpreet Singh Sehmi
Rowan Margaret Burnstein
David Krishna Menon
Arun Kumar Gupta

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

objectiveTo quantify the variability in the concentration of drug infusions prepared on an intensive care unit and establish whether there was a relationship between the quality of syringe labeling and drug preparation.

designAudit carried out over 3 weeks in May 2006 and completed in May 2007.

settingThe adult neurosciences critical care unit of a UK university teaching hospital.

interventionsDaily collections of discarded syringes containing midazolam, insulin, norepinephrine, dopamine, potassium or magnesium. MEASUREMENTS AND

resultsResidual solutions in the syringes were sampled and the concentrations measured. Syringe labels were inspected and awarded a score for labeling quality based on an 11-point scale. A total of 149 syringes were analyzed. Six of the magnesium syringes contained 4-5 times too much Mg(2+), presumably because of confusion about converting millimoles to grams. The majority of the other infusions differed from the expected concentration by more than 10%. Magnesium infusions were least likely to be properly labeled (p= 0.012), and there was a positive correlation between quality of syringe labeling and drug preparation (p=0.002). After the introduction of a new electrolyte prescription chart, magnesium and potassium preparation significantly improved but there was still substantial variability.

conclusionsThese findings present a strong argument for the use of pre-prepared syringes or standardized drug preparation and labeling systems. They also highlight once again the difficulties healthcare professionals encounter when dealing with different ways of expressing drug concentrations.

Indexed as

Drug LabelingInfusions, IntravenousAnticonvulsantsElectrolytesHumansIntensive Care UnitsMagnesium SulfateMedical AuditMedication ErrorsSyringesUnited KingdomAnticonvulsantsElectrolytesMagnesium Sulfate

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.