increased safety and
error reductions to
consistent availability
to ease of use, with
the latter topping the
list for many facility
leaders. "The greatest
benefit of prefilled
syringes is they're
ready to go," says Ray
Pasion, RN, MSN, ASC
administrator/clinical
director at Precision
Vision Surgery Center in Oklahoma City, Okla.
Some respondents cited the precision of using single-dose prefilled
syringes as both a cost-saver and a compliance tool. The director of a
Missouri-based surgery center touted the benefits of compounders for
"satisfying requirements of single-dose meds."
Ms. Hutto summarizes what prefilled syringes can potentially do for
time-strapped facilities: "Using prefilled syringes doesn't require the
circulating nurse to draw up the compounded products into a syringe
for injection in the OR, thus reducing the risk of cross-contamination
or error. The medication is simply handed off to the scrub tech when
the physician requests it or is ready to inject."
Plus, as Ms. Hutto adds, there's an often-overlooked benefit to pre-
filled syringes, as using them "cuts down on overall cost because we
do not have to buy additional supplies (syringes, needles, alcohol
pads) to prepare the compounded medications for injection."
OSM
J U N E 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 5
• TOPS IN CLASS The most commonly used prefilled syringe cited by our survey
respondents was phenylephrine.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
