Journal of emergency nursing : JEN : official publication of the Emergency Department Nurses Association
-
Although consensus exists among experts that early intravenous antibiotic therapy has an impact on patient mortality, the medical literature includes little information about ensuring that the patient receives the complete dose. At our emergency department, it had become standard clinical practice to administer antibiotics with primary pump tubing and an infusion pump. Clinical pharmacy staff identified this practice as a cause for concern, because at least 20 mL (up to 40%) of the dose volume remains in the tubing. This practice improvement project was aimed at improving the administration of antibiotics by programming a secondary infusion to ensure the complete dose would be administered. ⋯ This project demonstrates that our educational intervention improved awareness of the need to administer the entire antibiotic dose and adherence to the use of secondary tubing along with smart pump technology to administer antibiotics.