[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.
Vogel Kahmann
I
I
Klinische Pharmazie, Kantonsspital Schaffhausen, Switzerland. irene.vogel@kssch.ch
Bürki
R
R
Denzler
U
U
Höfler
A
A
Schmid
B
B
Splisgardt
H
H
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