Effect of available intravenous access on accuracy and timeliness of epinephrine administration

To evaluate the effect of available intravenous (IV) access on the accuracy and timeliness of epinephrine administration during a surprise mock severe contrast reaction.

Informed consent was waived for this prospective randomized IRB-approved study. Radiology trainees with previous annual hands-on contrast reaction training (n = 46) were randomized to one of two surprise mock contrast reactions over a 23-month period: Group 1-severe laryngeal edema with IV access present (n = 27) or Group 2-severe laryngeal edema without IV access present (n = 19). Both intramuscular (IM, Epi-Pen(®)) and IV epinephrine were available in both scenarios. Time-to-treat and epinephrine administration error rates were compared by study group and by route of administration using two-tailed Student's t test or χ (2) test. Epinephrine administration errors were correlated with training experience using Pearson's correlation.

Mean time to epinephrine administration was significantly faster for scenarios without IV access (Group 2: 35 ± 16 s vs. Group 1: 62 ± 49 s, p = 0.03), and for intramuscular administrations overall (IM: 42 ± 34 s vs. IV: 98 ± 46 s, p < 0.001). Epinephrine administration errors were common: (63% [17/27, Group 1] vs. 61% [11/18, Group 2], p = 1.00), had no relationship with time to most recent hands-on training (r = 0.24, p = 0.11), and were not predicted by year of post-graduate training (r = 0.04, p = 0.79).

Lack of IV access is associated with a faster epinephrine administration time but no improvement in epinephrine administration error rate among radiology trainees responding to a surprise mock severe contrast reaction. Annual hands-on training appears to have little effect on epinephrine administration accuracy.