Re: Inspection Question (sterile??)

[Guest guest]

i don't think the contents of a pre-filled syringe box i.e. the glass syringe

and the plunger are by any means " sterile " . the packaging is not marked as such.

i work in surgery at a hospital and i dumped the contents of a pre-filled

syringe onto a sterile field they would come unglued about it. what is sterile

is the needle inside the cover and the fluid path of the contents as well as the

drug itself, but the outside of the syringe plunger and the syringe are not

sterile. maybe they meant to say " clean "

i think that they want the drugs to remain in the original packaging for the

following reasons:

years ago in an agency in dallas county a 2mg pre-filled syringe of lidocaine

was accidently given in lieu of a pre-filled syringe of D50. killed the patient

DEAD. i think it was featured on discovery channel or nova or something like

that.

one of the reasons this happened, IMHO, is that it used to be common practice

to open the PFS boxes and separate the syringes and plungers and put the said

parts in a kit for speed of use. this removed an extra layer of protection

against medication errors (forcing someone to read the box)

the expiration date of the PFS box is also present on some end flaps of the box

and that's lost sometimes forcing whoever checks the truck to look at the drug

syringe. people get lazy and don't check the dates when it ain't easy.

jim " i'm a legend in 4 counties as the guy who counts alcohol preps, finds

expired ETT stylets.etc and makes a list every month about what expires the next

month on the truck " davis

Ronnie wrote: Let me qualify this

by stating that I am not a very smart person. My

questions are...

1) if your ambulance is inspected by the state, does

a " damaged " /half open box count against you? Carrying meds in a bag

often subjects the box they come in to the whims of the stability of

the bag they are carried in. If a flap on the box is separated/torn,

does that render the compromised box as unsterile (i.e. not

useable)?

2) if you find an expired med or supplies on the ambulance, I've

always been told to remove them immediately. If you do not have an

appropriate quantity to replenish them, what is the " correct " answer

in the state's eyes? I would imagine running short is 1000 times

better than being caught with something expired. Often times, with

my agency, replacement supplies are not readily available.

Any info will be appreciated. Thanks!

RJT

Lic-P/NREMT-P

between 0000-00-00 and 9999-99-99