title: [Economic impact of strategies using ephedrine prefilled syringes].
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Ephedrine is an emergency drug available in ampules and syringes need to be prepared in advance according to one of two strategies in our establishment: strategy 1 (S1: 1 ampule per patient) and strategy 2 (S2: 1 ampule per operating room). There are also prefilled syringes. Because of their high cost and conflicting results in the literature, we assessed the economic interest of using prefilled syringes compared with strategies S1 and S2.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a prospective observational study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The consumption of ephedrine was recorded over two periods of 14 days: P1 with syringes prepared in advance according to S1 or S2 and P2 with the on-demand use of prefilled syringes.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The cost of a syringe of ephedrine prepared in advance (nurse time preparation included) was evaluated at €1.65 vs. €3.57 for a prefilled syringe. In operating rooms using S1, the use of prefilled syringes reduced overall the cost per patient about €1.22 and global annual costs by 72% (€2830), while the decrease was about €0.32 for the cost per patient and about 47% (€2760) for global annual costs for operating rooms using S2.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The interest of our study is that we investigated different supply strategies for ephedrine within a large number of operating rooms. In our establishment, it was decided to use prefilled syringes in operating rooms that used S1. As well as the economic interest, prefilled syringes contributed to improved safety and saved nursing time.
authors.affiliation: Service de pharmacie, 14, rue Gaffarel, 21000 Dijon, France. Electronic address: julia.cregut@gmail.com.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Crégut-Corbaton
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Malbranche
authors.forename: M-H
authors.initials: MH
authors.lastname: Guignard
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fagnoni
mesh_terms: D004339:Drug Compounding / Q000191:economics; D016527:Drug Costs; D004363:Drug Utilization; D004809:Ephedrine / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics*; D005602:France; D006801:Humans; D009726:Nurses; D009873:Operating Rooms / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013594:Syringes / Q000191:economics*; D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage* / Q000191:economics*
chemical_list: D014662:Vasoconstrictor Agents; D004809:Ephedrine
keywords: Cost reduction; Diminution des coûts; Démarche qualité; Ephedrine; Gain de temps; Prefilled syringes; Quality assurance; Safety; Seringues préremplies; Sécurité; Time-saving; Éphédrine