Greetings from ODEMSA,
Over the last couple months the prefilled epinephrine syringes have gone back under shortage. Due to this, regional pharmacies may begin placing the “epi kits” in the boxes as need arises.
These will come in the form of a 1mg/1ml ampule/vial of epinephrine, a syringe, filter needle, and 10ml vial of normal saline. We have included a few pictures so providers get an idea of what this might look like.
Another potential shortage is with Sodium Bicarbonate. At this point, the region is not recognizing the necessity for kits of this medication yet.
We realize this causes issues in the administration of some medications and wanted to make agencies and providers aware of these changes before they happen. As always, please be aware of what is in the drug boxes and be prepared. The pharmacies will be placing medication alert cards on any boxes that have changes.
Remember the 3 C’s!
The ODEMSA staff would like to remind EMS providers of the procedure involved when exchanging an ODEMSA Drug Kit. To make it easier, just remember the 3 C’s: CARD, CALL SHEET, and CLEAN.
CARD: You must fill out the “Drug Kit Exchange Card” whenever an ODEMSA Drug Kit is exchanged, whether it was used for a patient or it is an expired box. These cards are invaluable during the investigation of a drug diversion. Please follow the steps below; print clearly with a pen to ensure that any copies that might need to be made later are legible.
CALL SHEET: You still must include a copy of your call sheet or a MIVT inside the box, which still must have a physician’s signature for any administration of controlled medications, and the signature of the RN, pharmacist, or pharmacy technician that witnessed any controlled substance wastage. Drug kits will not be accepted without this documentation.
CLEAN: Please make sure to remove any sharps and/or opened medications, and to clean any bodily fluids off the box. This keeps our hospital partners safe and ensures a quick and accurate turnaround of the drug kit.
Making sure these three things are done helps the system run smoother. Thank you all for everything you do! ODEMSA is proud that we have such an amazing system for providing care to the citizens of the region and we couldn’t do it without the region’s pharmacies. These processes are required by ODEMSA and the pharmacies to continue providing medications for the use of our EMS providers.
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