practice partner
practice points from the ICRC
The Inquiries, Complaints and Reports Committee identifies clinical or practice issues it sees that may
be of educational value to the profession. The composite narratives are derived from information the
Committee reviews, with clinical points distilled. The Committee welcomes feedback and dialogue.
The Safe
Administration
of Injectables
Avoid using multi-dose vials
whenever possible
T
• Nearly 1% of respondents acknowledged that they
sometimes or always reused a syringe for more than
one patient after changing only the needle.
• Six percent of respondents admitted to sometimes
or always using single-dose or single-use vials for
multiple patients.
• Fifteen percent of respondents reported using the
same syringe to re-enter a multi-dose vial numerous
times. Of this group, about 7% reported saving these
multi-dose vials for use with other patients.
Each of these unsafe practices has been associated with
disease transmission.
In Ontario, this College collaborated with the Provin-
64
Dialogue Issue 4, 2014
cial Infection Diseases Advisory Committee on Infection Prevention and Control through Public Health
Ontario to develop a document that supports physicians working in out-of-hospital premises and other
clinical office settings to minimize risk of infection
transmission.
The following practices – excerpted from “Infection
Prevention and Control for Clinical Office Practice” –
should be adhered to when preparing and administering
injectable medications.
1. Aseptic Technique
• erform hand hygiene prior to accessing supplies,
P
handling vials and IV solutions, and preparing or
administering medications.
• se aseptic technique in all aspects of parenteral mediU
cation administration, medication vial use, injections
and glucose monitoring procedures. Limit access to
select trained individuals, if possible.
• ever administer medication from the same syringe to
N
more than one patient, even if the needle is changed
between patients.
photo: istockphoto.com
he transmission of blood-borne viruses and
other microbial pathogens to patients during
routine health-care procedures continues to
occur due to unsafe and improper injection,
infusion and medication vial practices being used by
health-care professionals within various clinical offices.
Occasionally, the College’s Inquiries, Complaints and
Reports Committee (ICRC) will learn of lapses in basic
infection-control practices associated with the use of syringes, needles, multiple-dose vials, and single-use vials.
The ICRC takes such lapses very seriously.
It is difficult to say how frequently lapses occur, but a
U.S. survey of 5,446 health-care professionals in 2010
revealed: