Labeling syringes?

It may be different in different Regions, but for me, we label what is in the syringe. Patient name, name of medication, dose of medication, and date and time it was hung.

Ok thank you!

In school they are teaching us to label our syringes with what is in the bottle for example Lasix 40mg/2ml if we draw up 2mls after doing the math... I just couldn't remember if it was the doctors order or the actual medication label.

What is in the bottle and the strength such as Lasix 20 mgm/1cc.

interesting, we don't label the syringe, but usually we fill the syringe at bed side.

We label it with contents and dose. It's mainly, my instructor says, as a reminder to ones self and to identify it if it was dropped, you passed out, or any other such accident.

I do both. Example:

Morphine 4mg/mL

Contains 2mg

Volume 0.5mL

Name, Date, Time, Initials

This is helpful because when we run out drips from syringes the nurses need to know how much volume started out in the syringe and the concentration of the medication in case there is a change in the drip rates, etc.

In an emergency, we sometimes give a smaller dose of the medication then we have in the syringe, so knowing both the starting volume of the med and the concentration lets the nurse/doctor know exactly how much is left and how much the patient received.

I tend to draw up my meds in the patient's room, that way I don't accidentally throw away the med vial because we have to scan it. Don't want my employer to think I'm diverting narcotics! If I have to draw up more than one med, I label them with the med name and the dose.

Funny how a lot of you say u never label syringes.

We were told that it's a major jchao (sp) violation if you don't so in clinical we have to.

So is this true??

In my hospital, it's a HUGE thing to label syringes, it's a big no no to not label them. I know what's in the syringe but if another nurse comes by they might not know. For example, if another nurse walks by and the patient has respiratory depression, they can look and see the patient is getting morphine and go from there. Also, if the IV pump fails and it's not all infused, another nurse can look at it and look at the order and know that it's correct and can restart it if need be. You never know what may happen.