P037 Evaluating the introduction of dose banded cefotaxime using pre- filled syringes, for early onset sepsis on a neonatal unit
Authors: Hibberd Suzannah 
Published: June 2019

Background

In December 2017, cefotaxime doses for treatment of early onset sepsis were banded according to weight. The dose-banding only applies to neonates <7 days old. The implementation of pre-filled syringes (PFS) supplied by the Pharmacy Technical Services Unit coincided with the introduction of cefotaxime dose-banding.

Aim

To assess whether cefotaxime is prescribed according to the dose-banding guideline. To establish if batch numbers of PFS are reconciled on the electronic prescribing system (EPS). To determine whether introducing PFS has resulted in more neonates receiving the first dose of antibiotics within 1 hour of the decision to treat.

Methods

An EPS report was generated for 2 groups of patients. Group A received cefotaxime from April to June 2018, group B received cefotaxime from September to November 2017, before dose-banding was introduced. Data collected included: weight; dose; time of prescribing and time of administration for the first dose; whether a PFS was used and if the batch number was reconciled electronically. Patients transferred into the unit were excluded as they had started their antibiotics prior to transfer.

Results

95.3% of group A, (n=85), received doses in accordance with the guideline, two doses were prescribed according to weight. Out of the 95.3% eligible to receive PFS, 91.4% of PFS were documented on the EPS. It was unknown whether PFS were used for the remaining patients. 90.5% of the PFS batch numbers were reconciled, 8.1% were not reconciled and 1.4% had incomplete records. 81.2% of group A received the first dose of antibiotics ≤60 minutes from the point of prescribing in comparison to 76.6% in group B (n=94). 58.8% of group A and 42.6% of group B had doses administered ≤30 minutes after prescribing. Both groups had 5 patients that did not receive their first dose until >2 hours after prescribing.

Conclusion

The majority of prescribers are using the dose- banding guideline. 91.4% of doses have been administered using PFS, thereby reducing nursing time used for IV drug preparation. In 8.6% it could not be determined whether a PFS was used although prescription templates had been used. The template includes a mandatory box to say if a PFS has been used, nurses cannot sign the drug administration if it is empty. An outcome from this study is that this discrepancy will be investigated by the electronic prescribing team. Nurses are recording batch numbers onto the EPS in 90.5% of cases. Nurses will be reminded to reconcile batch numbers and making it a mandatory requirement on the EPS will be investigated Having PFS available has led to more patients receiving their dose within 30 minutes and slightly more receiving their doses within 60 minutes. However similar numbers are still receiving their doses >60 minutes after prescribing. Next steps will be to examine cases where antibiotics are delayed and identify causes. A limitation of this study is that it does not take into account how long it takes the prescriber to write the prescription after making the decision to treat.

Reference

National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence. ( 2012) Neonatal Infection (early onset): antibiotics for prevention and treatment. NICE Guideline (CG149)