Recommended maximum concentrations of common acute care parenteral admixtures

This project set out to determine the recommended maximum concentrations of 15 commonly used acute care parenteral medications from the literature and manufacturer data and to describe the practices of representative hospital pharmacy departments nationwide regarding maximum concentration guidelines. Literature review and manufacturers provided little information on maximum concentrations. Sixty percent of pharmacy departments surveyed provide guidelines to staff, with a wide range of maximum concentrations reported between departments. A majority (64%) of the individual drug guidelines adopted by departments exceed literature-supported data. A clear need exists for studies of stability and potency for many parenteral admixture products at concentrations higher than the current labeling. A chart of literature and manufacturer-provided data and practice guidelines based on information from the surveyed institutions is presented here.