The following are excerpts from the newsletter

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January 15, 1997

• Awareness growing about IV catheter-associated infections due to inappropriate use of disposables
• Safety Briefs
  • New product, Patanol® could be confused due to simila rity of name with another product.
  • Epoetin alfa labeling updated.
  • Institutional disposal of "used" Duragesic®(fentanyl, Janssen) patches requires greater scrutiny.
  • Mix up of strengths of Dilantin® suspension causes hospital admission for phenytoin toxicity.
  • Proposed USP revision will prohibit use of natural rubber latex in elastomeric closures for injections due to severe allergies.
  • ISMP is eligible for designation under United Way contributions to support its activities in promoting medication safety. Please consider remebering us during your institutions next United Way campaign by including the ISMP name, address and ID# on your donor choice card.
    Institute for Safe Medication Practices
    200 Lakeside Drive, Suite 200, Horsham, PA 19044
    ID# 09751

January 29,1997

• Extra caution needed with U-500 insulin
• Initial amiodarone infusions need separate containers
• Use "trigger" alerts to spot ADR trends
• Safety Briefs
  • January 22/29, 1997 issue of JAMA includes three articles on adverse drug event prevention.
  • ISMP and International Medical News Group (a division of WB Saunders Co.) launch columns in Family Practice News, Internal Medicine News, and OB-Gyn News about medication errors
  • Prescribing via the web? New product may allow secure site prescribing.
  • Cedax® a third generation cephalosporin reported to have been confused by transcriptionists with Cidex® a germicidal agent.
  • Institute for Healthcare Improvement works with ISMP to develop list of drugs which when improperly used increase mortality risk.
  • Erroneous connection of feeding sets with rigid female luer connectors on IV sets can have serious and even fatal consequences.
  • Parke-Davis notifies pharmacy directors that post marketing surveilance finds confusion regarding current vial and carton labels for Cerebyx®
  • FDA announces new regulations on oral iron tablets and iron containing supplements.
  • Bristol-Myers Squibb Oncology distributes stickers for slide rules that calculate area under the curve dosing of Paraplatin® (carboplatin) that indicate that "calculated creatinine clearance is ONLY an estimate of GFR"