A Novel Method for Administering Epinephrine during Neonatal Resuscitation

Area of Science:

• Neonatal Resuscitation
• Emergency Medicine
• Clinical Pharmacy

Background:

• Timely epinephrine administration is critical during neonatal resuscitation for bradycardic infants.
• Current methods for epinephrine preparation are inefficient and prone to errors.
• Prefilled syringes have demonstrated reduced errors and administration times for other emergency medications.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate if prefilled epinephrine syringes decrease administration time compared to conventional methods.
• To assess the impact of prefilled syringes on epinephrine preparation and administration efficiency in simulated neonatal resuscitation.

Main Methods:

• Twenty-one neonatal intensive care unit nurses participated in simulated neonatal resuscitation scenarios.
• Participants used both conventional epinephrine preparation and novel prefilled syringes.
• Video recordings analyzed preparation and administration times; Wilcoxon Signed Rank Tests compared differences.

Main Results:

• Epinephrine preparation was significantly faster with prefilled syringes (17.0s vs. 48.0s, p < 0.001).
• Epinephrine administration was also significantly faster with prefilled syringes (26.9s vs. 57.6s, p < 0.001).
• All participants supported the clinical adoption of prefilled epinephrine syringes in a post-study survey.

Conclusions:

• Prefilled epinephrine syringes expedite medication preparation and administration during simulated neonatal resuscitation.
• Faster administration of epinephrine may improve outcomes, including hastening return of spontaneous circulation.
• The adoption of prefilled epinephrine syringes in clinical practice could be lifesaving for neonates experiencing bradycardia.