The Impact of Delayed Symptomatic Treatment Implementation in the Intensive Care Unit

Impact of a systematic framework for anticipatory compounding on medication waste reduction in a mid-size community hospital

PURPOSE

In current hospital pharmacy practice, the need to compound medications ahead of patient orders often results in an increase in medication waste. The purpose of this study was to implement a strategic approach for anticipatory sterile compounding and evaluate its effect on the reduction of expired medication waste.

METHODS

This was a pre-/post-intervention quasi-experimental study with 3 weeks of data collection for both arms and a 1-week washout period to implement process changes. A par log was placed on the medication storage refrigerator used for anticipatory compounding, with minimum and maximum levels determined by the demand-forecasting model. The primary outcome was the percentage of observations associated with waste. The secondary outcomes were the overall percentage of sterile compounding spending attributable to waste, median wasted dollars per sterile compounded product, and median dollars spent per sterile product compounded as anticipatory stock. Descriptive statistics were calculated using Minitab version 20, with the α level set to 0.05.

RESULTS

A total of 4,619 observations were included in the analysis: 2,433 in the preintervention group and 2,186 in the postintervention group. Despite the median price being higher in the postintervention group than in the preintervention group, both the primary and secondary outcomes indicated that waste was reduced following the intervention.

CONCLUSION

Overall, implementation of the framework reduced sterile products waste at our institution. More research is needed to evaluate the effects of this framework at institutions of different sizes and with different patient populations. Further research on probabilistic models for sterile compounded products is also needed.

MRI and the Critical Care Patient: Clinical, Operational, and Financial Challenges

Neuroimaging in conjunction with a neurologic examination has become a valuable resource for today's intensive care unit (ICU) physicians. Imaging provides critical information during the assessment and ongoing neuromonitoring of patients for toxic-metabolic or structural injury of the brain. A patient's condition can change rapidly, and interventions may require imaging. When making this determination, the benefit must be weighed against possible risks associated with intrahospital transport. The patient's condition is assessed to decide if they are stable enough to leave the ICU for an extended period. Intrahospital transport risks include adverse events related to the physical nature of the transport, the change in the environment, or relocating equipment used to monitor the patient. Adverse events can be categorized as minor (e.g., clinical decompensation) or major (e.g., requiring immediate intervention) and may occur in preparation or during transport. Regardless of the type of event experienced, any intervention during transport impacts the patient and may lead to delayed treatment and disruption of critical care. This review summarizes the commentary on the current literature on the associated risks and provides insight into the costs as well as provider experiences. Approximately, one-third of patients who are transported from the ICU to an imaging suite may experience an adverse event. This creates an additional risk for extending a patient's stay in the ICU. The delay in obtaining imaging can negatively impact the patient's treatment plan and affect long-term outcomes as increased disability or mortality. Disruption of ICU therapy can decrease respiratory function after the patient returns from transport. Because of the complex care team needed for patient transport, the staff time alone can cost $200 or more. New technologies and advancements are needed to reduce patient risk and improve safety.