In the name of patient safety
The debate regarding off-label use will continue as medicine evolves,
and physicians will continue to routinely prescribe and administer med-
ication for off-label purposes. When a medication like Kenalog has a
special warning, however, off-label use becomes riskier and may even
be contraindicated. Patient safety is the foremost priority at every facili-
ty. It is the duty of each provider to ensure that patients have accurate,
up-to-date and complete information before undergoing any procedure.
Excellent communication by surgeons and staff is the key to mitigating
risk to the patient and to the surgical facility.
OSM
Ms. Stremick (jerene@elitemedicalexperts.com) is the managing nurse case
strategist at Elite Medical Experts in Tucson, Ariz., where she and her physi-
cian-led team have consulted on more than 7,000 medicolegal matters. Her
clinical expertise is in orthopedics, trauma, critical care, ambulatory surgery
and dermatology.
M A Y 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 1
Shortly after the epidural injection
of Kenalog, the woman suffered
a spinal cord infarction that
resulted in paraplegia.
