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Is it wrong to use expired drugs? Part I
– Is it wrong to use expired drugs? Well, . . . When paramedics ran out of a critical drug used to treat irregular heartbeats, the Bend Fire Department in Central Oregon dug into its stash of expired...
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Is it wrong to use expired drugs? Part II
– Continuing from Part I – It was good fortune that no one around Mayer, Ariz., called 911 to report a seizure during the three weeks this year that the local fire district had no drugs to treat the...
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These authors read far too much into their limited study – Part II
– Continuing from Part I. The authors do not find dramatic differences between fentanyl and morphine in their ability to relieve pain in patients who are not hypotensive. In the discussion, they begin...
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Drug shortages leading to better EMS protocols
- MIEMSS (Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems) has posted some changes to their protocols that are in response to the drug shortages affecting EMS. This is good news, even though...
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Not Carrying Essential Drugs on an Ambulance
A paramedic responded to dispatch that he did not have any seizure medicines and that no other medics have seizure medicines. How does this happen? Is it a result of the drug shortage?[1]...
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Let the drug shortages help us make better patient care decisions
Image credit.[1] – Maryland made smart changes to their protocols because of the drug shortages.[2] 50% dextrose is not as good as 10% dextrose at treating hypoglycemia.[3],[4],[5] Switching to 10%...
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DC Fire and EMS Being Sued for Retaliation After Problems Were Reported
Big city EMS departments like to brag about how good they are, but are they good? “If you think about how much progress we’ve made in the last two years, I’m very pleased with the deployment we...
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Dextrose 10% in the Treatment of Out-of-Hospital Hypoglycemia
Is 50% dextrose as good as 10% dextrose for treating symptomatic hypoglycemia? If the patient is disoriented, but becomes oriented before the full dose of dextrose is given, is it appropriate to...
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Corrections of Misleading Charts
– Also posted over at Paramedicine 101, which is now at EMS Blogs. Go check out the excellent material there. – Back in September, I wrote Furosemide and Drug Shortages 2. I was just looking at the...
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Drug Shortages Update – IV Nitroglycerin
– – While I was finishing writing my 3 part Valentine to IV (IntraVenous) nitroglycerin (Corrections of Misleading Charts Comment – Part I, Part II, and Part III.), the FDA (Food and Drug...
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FDA Drug Shortages – Calcium Gluconate and Chloride – Part I
– – The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) issued a new drug shortage for calcium gluconate – this is in addition to the continuing drug shortage for calcium chloride.[1] The occurrence of a drug...
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Drug Shortage Update – Norepinephrine
– The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has advised of another drug shortage. Norepinephrine Bitartrate Injection (Levophed brand, but also the generic version). This adds to the potential...
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Stressful Drug Shortage Update
– The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) reports that their lorazepam (Ativan) injection drug shortage has been updated.[1] Baxter’s 20 mg/10 ml vials are available, but have the potential for a bit...
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Propofol and the Michael Jackson Effect
Also posted over at Paramedicine 101 (now at EMS Blogs) and at Research Blogging. Go check out the excellent material at these sites. – One contributing site introduced propofol into its ED 22 months...
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Shortage of Lifesaving Drugs Reaches Epic Proportions
– I did not come up with the title – Shortage of Lifesaving Drugs Reaches Epic Proportions – that was the title of the article I am criticizing, but not for any lack of hyperbole. “It’s a perfect...
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Is the Drug Shortage an Excuse for Incompetence – Part I
– Continuing from Shortage of Lifesaving Drugs Reaches Epic Proportions. – It’s how to provide the best patientcare while at the same time preventing medical mix-ups when administering drug...
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Is the Drug Shortage an Excuse for Incompetence – Part II
– Continuing from Part I. – A hospital, or ambulance company, should not allow doctors, nurses, or paramedics to give substitute medications without educating them about the medication. Different...
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How Bad are the Drug Shortages
– I rant a bit about the misuse of many of these drugs, but there are a lot of drugs used in EMS on the current drug shortage list. There is a lot written about the drug shortages, but what drugs are...
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Drug Shortage Update Affecting a Lot of the Ex-Code Drugs
– Today’s drug shortage update from the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) includes a lot of drugs that used to be routine drugs for cardiac arrest. Once upon a time, I was a code drug. Atropine is...
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Medication Storage and the Heat
– It has been hot with no real expectation of a cool rest of the Summer or even the Autumn. What do we do to keep medications in the recommended storage range? Image credit. Do we need to...
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