Survey of the Preparation of Cardiovascular Emergency Medications for Adult Cardiovascular Anesthesia

To describe current practices and safety concerns regarding cardiac emergency medications in cardiac anesthesia.

An anonymous survey with multiple-choice questions.

Online survey using Opinio platform.

Cardiac anesthesiologists from United States and Canada.

None.

Response rate was 12% (n = 320), with 78% of respondents from the United States and 22% from Canada. The majority of the respondents were experienced (66%), academic (60%), and worked in large cardiac institutions (81%). Most cardiac emergency medications were prepared in the operating room (53.4%), followed by the pharmacy (34%) and industry (8.2%). American respondents had more medications prepared by a pharmacy (53%) versus Canadian (10%, p < 0.001). The majority (85%) considered expiration time of cardiac medications prepared in the operating room to be more than 12 hours. Familiarity with the American Society of Anesthesiologists guidelines on labeling was 58%, other medication safety guidelines 25%, and 34% were not familiar with any guidelines. The majority used color-coded labeling (95%), and a minority (11%) used bar-code systems. Most respondents (69%) agreed that lack of availability of preprepared medications could compromise patient safety. Having to prepare medications by themselves was a concern for respondents based on distractions (66%), lack of availability for emergencies (53%), labeling errors (41%), incorrect concentration (36%), sterility (33%), and stability (30%).

This survey found that cardiac emergency medications commonly are prepared in the operating room. The authors identified gaps in familiarity with parenteral medications safety guidelines. Most safety concerns could be addressed with the application of current medication safety guidelines.