[Incompatibility reactions in the intensive care unit. Five years after the implementation of a simple "colour code system"].
In intensive care units (ICU) most of the drugs have to be administered by y-piece infusions or admixtures. Drug stability and compatibility are critical elements in the accurate and appropriate delivery of drug therapies to patients. Five years after the implementation of a simple "colour code system" in an attempt to minimize the number of incompatibilities, the situation has been re-examined. The clinical pharmacist collected 78 different medication regimes and the compatibility and incompatibilities were evaluated based on the available literature. Before initiating the "colour code system" in the ICU, 15% of the administered drugs were incompatible and afterwards the number decreased to 2%. This rate could be kept at 2%, even 5 years after the implementation of the system,without any further intervention. As a result of teamwork between nurses, doctors and clinical pharmacy a simple "colour system" was established to minimize incidences of drug incompatibility in the ICU. The system is highly accepted because the degree of uncertainty has been considerably reduced.
Klinische Pharmazie, Kantonsspital Schaffhausen, Switzerland. irene.vogel@kssch.ch
I
I
Vogel Kahmann
R
R
Bürki
U
U
Denzler
A
A
Höfler
B
B
Schmid
H
H
Splisgardt
D003116:Color; D004344:Drug Incompatibility; D004355:Drug Stability; D004358:Drug Therapy; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration*; D008508:Medication Errors / Q000517:prevention & control; D010607:Pharmacy Service, Hospital / Q000458:organization & administration