Usage of cardiotonic drugs at the intensive care units

Abstract

Background: Circulation insufficiency is one of the most common dysfunctions in the patients admitted to the intensive care units (ICU) [1]. These patients need an intravenous (IV) vasoactive drug administration to optimize or support cardiovascular system (CVS). Emergency situations, hard work conditions, difficult devices’ usage and a lot of other specific factors of complex environment of ICU create favorable conditions for the occurrence of medical errors (ME). Material and methods: Within this prospective study were examined the methods of administration and the types of the errors that were found during the administration of the following drugs: epinephrine, noradrenaline, dopamine and dobuthamine. In the period of time May – September 2016, were examined 50 patients from ICUs from 4 different hospitals. The age limits were between 31-100 years old. The data collection was accomplished on the base of a questionnaire prepared beforehand. Results: From all the number of examined patients, 33 (66%) were men and 17 (34%) – women. The body weight was indicated in the medical notes of 21 (42%) patients. To 15 (30%) of them was administrated the adrenaline, noradrenaline had the incidence in 15 patients (30%) and dopamine – 17 patients (34%). Conclusions: Tracked dosage errors in 20% of cases, 4% of them were found at dilution administration of the drugs. The inscription of administered drug in medical notes was lacking in 2 uses.

Keywords

• cardiotonic medication
• medication error
• automatic syringe pump
• dilution