Survey: standardised drugs bag & changes made from your feedback

As reported previously on Need to Know - we’re creating a ‘make-ready’ model for our drugs bag. That means that our drug bags will be standardised across the Trust, so whatever area you work in you’ll use the same drugs bag, stocked with the same pouches, with the same number of drugs, and laid out in the same way, as those at the other end of the region.

A few weeks ago we asked for your opinion on the proposals, and nearly 300 of you from across the region took the survey – thank you.

Some of the things you told us were that:

• having some bags grouped by condition (like hypoglycaemia and cardiac arrest) was a good idea
• there was some duplication across the pouches; the team have now tried to streamline where they can, but some is purposeful for ease when dealing with genuinely life-threatening conditions (like anaphylaxis), so you have everything you need in one place
• there were too many of some drugs, and not enough of others, e.g. we’ve now reduced the number of atropine ampoules from 10 to five following your feedback. The only exception to this is narcan – some of you said you rarely use it so 10 doses was too many, but as the maximum for one patient is 11 doses, the team have decided not to reduce the number at this stage
• the pouches should be tagged, and each pouch should have its own admin record
• the ‘frequently used’ pouch contained some drugs that you didn’t often use; so we’ve now changed the names of some of the pouches, and moved some drugs around.

After taking your feedback on board, we’ve made some changes. So we’d be really grateful if you could tell us what you think of the newly revised pouches (particularly if you did the first survey) by completing this survey:

Click here: drug bag survey 

You can also download this handy PDF which shows the pouches and their contents in detail, and includes the rationale on what things have changed from your feedback.

The survey should take no more than 10 minutes to complete, and it’s 100% anonymous. Thanks for your time!

Want to be involved in the project? Register your interest by contacting medicinemanagement@eastamb.nhs.uk. 

Published 10th December, 2015