reminders.
• Always enter medication vials with a new needle and new syringe
— regardless of whether that medication vial is dedicated to one
patient. This is confusing to some, but keep in mind that if you're
using a single vial of medication for a procedure, staff must always
use a new needle and syringe each time they go into that vial to draw
additional medication — yes, even though it's for the same patient
and for the same procedure.
• We all know to use a clean needle and syringe each time you enter
a multidose medication vial, but sometimes we forget to disinfect the
rubber septum with alcohol before each vial entry.
• Discard bags of IV solutions and medication administration tubing and
connectors at the end of the procedure after using them for one patient.
• Finally, a note
about pre-filled
syringes: Even though
they could have
enough medication
for more than one
patient, the one-and-
done rule still applies:
Use pre-filled syringes
for only one patient
and discard them at
the end of the proce-
dure.
OSM
Ms. Segal (info@iccs-
home.com) is president
of Infection Control
Consulting Services
(iccs-home.com).
F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 2 5
