• Willehad Boemke, Felix Balzer, Sven Staender, Bernhard Walder, Nadine Wickboldt, Jérôme Goncerut, Pierre-André Michel, Raf Kinnaer, and Marc Kastrup.
• Division of Anaesthesiology, Department Anaesthesiology, Intensive Care and Clinical Pharmacology, University Hospitals of Geneva, Switzerland. nadine.wickboldt@hcuge.ch
• Eur J Anaesthesiol. 2012 Sep 1;29(9):446-51.

ContextStandardised drug syringe labelling may reduce drug errors, but data on drug syringe labelling use in European anaesthesiology departments are lacking.ObjectivesSurvey investigating if standardised drug syringe labelling is used, and if there are geographical, demographic and professional differences in hospitals with and without use of drug syringe labelling.DesignStructured, web-based anonymised questionnaire.SettingEuropean anaesthesia departments.ParticipantsMembers of the European Society of Anaesthesiology.InterventionOnline survey from 2 February to 12 April 2011.Main Outcome MeasureStandardised drug syringe labelling use and, if yes, drug syringe labelling for insulin and norepinephrine.MethodsDescriptive and comparative analyses of users and nonusers of standardised drug syringe labelling.ResultsOne thousand and sixty-four of 4163 members (25.6%) from 72 countries participated, among whom 660 (62.0%) used standardised drug syringe labelling; in Northern and Western Europe, there were 428 users of drug syringe labelling and 112 nonusers, and in Southern and Eastern Europe, there were 184 users and 255 nonusers (P < 0.001). Three hundred and ninety-four (37%) respondents used standardised drug syringe labelling hospital-wide; 202 (30.1%) used International Organisation of Standardisation-based standardised drug syringe labelling, 101 (15.1%) used similar systems, 278 (41.5%) used other systems and 89 (13.3%) used labels supplied by drug manufacturers. The label colour for insulin was reported as white or 'none' in 519 (76.7%) answers and another colour in 158 (23.3%). The label colour for norepinephrine was reported as violet in 206 (30.4%) answers, white or 'none' in 226 (33.3%), red in 114 (16.8%) and another colour in 132 (19.5%). A standardised drug syringe labelling system supplied by the pharmaceutical industry was supported by 819 (76.9%) respondents, and not supported by 227 (21.3%).ConclusionA majority of European anaesthesiology departments used standardised drug syringe labelling, with regional differences and mostly without following an international standard. Thus, there are options for quality improvement in drug syringe labelling.

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