Two new studies on errors in regional anesthesia have found that ampule errors, syringe swaps and confusion over epidurals and IV lines are among the most common causes of drug-related issues, according to an Anesthesiology News report.
The studies were conducted by UK researcher Santosh Patel, MD, an anesthesiologist at Pennine Acute NHS Trust Hospital in Oldham, England. He presented his findings at the 2012 meeting of the International Anesthesia Research Society.
Dr. Patel and his colleagues searched databases for incidents involving epidural or intrathecal injections and found two published cases of drug errors for both obstetric and non-obstetric cases, as well as 13 cases for procedures performing during or after pregnancy.
Many of the mistakes involved swapped and unlabeled or incorrectly labeled syringes, as well as mix-ups over catheters and IV lines. Four patients died due to errors with ampule mix-ups. The second study, which looked at obstetric cases and included data on labor and neonatal outcomes, showed that lack of provider education, fatigue, poor lighting and supply and storage errors could lead to failure to check drugs, ampule mix-ups, syringe mistakes and confusion over infusion bags.
The studies were conducted by UK researcher Santosh Patel, MD, an anesthesiologist at Pennine Acute NHS Trust Hospital in Oldham, England. He presented his findings at the 2012 meeting of the International Anesthesia Research Society.
Dr. Patel and his colleagues searched databases for incidents involving epidural or intrathecal injections and found two published cases of drug errors for both obstetric and non-obstetric cases, as well as 13 cases for procedures performing during or after pregnancy.
Many of the mistakes involved swapped and unlabeled or incorrectly labeled syringes, as well as mix-ups over catheters and IV lines. Four patients died due to errors with ampule mix-ups. The second study, which looked at obstetric cases and included data on labor and neonatal outcomes, showed that lack of provider education, fatigue, poor lighting and supply and storage errors could lead to failure to check drugs, ampule mix-ups, syringe mistakes and confusion over infusion bags.