SPECIAL REPORT

Hospitals unnecessarily diluting IV meds

More than 80% of healthcare employees dilute certain IV push medications, which is not always necessary, according to a new survey conducted by the Institute for Safe Medication Practices. The practice sometimes results in the repackaging of prefilled syringes or other containers provided by the pharmacy, and leads to unlabeled or mislabeled syringes, potential contamination of sterile IV medications, dosing errors, and other types of drug-administration errors.

Opioids and antianxiety / antipsychotic medications were most frequently diluted. Almost half of all those surveyed said they often or always dilute antianxiety / antipsychotic medications prior to IV push administration.

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