[Incompatibility reactions in the intensive care unit. Five years after the implementation of a simple "colour code system"]

Abstract

In intensive care units (ICU) most of the drugs have to be administered by y-piece infusions or admixtures. Drug stability and compatibility are critical elements in the accurate and appropriate delivery of drug therapies to patients. Five years after the implementation of a simple "colour code system" in an attempt to minimize the number of incompatibilities, the situation has been re-examined. The clinical pharmacist collected 78 different medication regimes and the compatibility and incompatibilities were evaluated based on the available literature. Before initiating the "colour code system" in the ICU, 15% of the administered drugs were incompatible and afterwards the number decreased to 2%. This rate could be kept at 2%, even 5 years after the implementation of the system,without any further intervention. As a result of teamwork between nurses, doctors and clinical pharmacy a simple "colour system" was established to minimize incidences of drug incompatibility in the ICU. The system is highly accepted because the degree of uncertainty has been considerably reduced.