TY  - JOUR
T1  - Retrospective Analysis of Continuous Subcutaneous Infusions Containing Morphine or Oxycodone in Specialized Palliative Care
A1  - Maria Hernandez
A1  - Carlos Vega
JF  - Journal of Integrative Nursing and Palliative Care
JO  - J Integr Nurs Palliat Care
SN  - 3006-5550
Y1  - 2024
VL  - 5
IS  - 2
DO  - 10.51847/SvCDzQt2hJ
SP  - 272
EP  - 280
N2  - Subcutaneous infusions that deliver several medications together are a standard practice in palliative care, especially when dealing with intense pain. That said, giving drugs by injection or infusion has repeatedly been linked to mistakes. Past research has shown that creating standardized recipes for these injectable mixtures can markedly improve medication safety. To explore how far parenteral drug mixtures used in palliative and hospice care could be standardized, by pinpointing the compositions that appear most often when morphine or oxycodone is included. A retrospective analysis of medical charts for all recorded parenteral mixtures containing morphine or oxycodone. Records of drug administrations for 120 patients who had died while receiving care were collected from two hospital wards and the home-based palliative service in Helsinki, Finland. Descriptive statistics were applied to examine the data. Across the 120 patients, a total of 329 mixtures containing morphine or oxycodone were given as continuous subcutaneous infusions during the 10 months running from 28 April 2022 to 28 February 2023. In all, 29 different drug combinations were recorded. The two most frequent were haloperidol plus midazolam mixed with morphine, and the same two drugs mixed with oxycodone (accounting for 26.4% and 21.9% of administrations, respectively). From the 329 infusions, 175 distinct formulations were identified. In several of these mixtures, raising the opioid dose tended to coincide with increases in the amounts of the accompanying drugs. Even though people in palliative and hospice care usually need personalized prescriptions, it may still be realistic to introduce standard mixtures for those based on morphine, and especially for combinations that include midazolam and haloperidol together with either morphine or oxycodone.
UR  - https://journalinpc.com/article/retrospective-analysis-of-continuous-subcutaneous-infusions-containing-morphine-or-oxycodone-in-spec-lmz94536ald3952
ER  -