ความเข้าใจคำสั่งใช้ยาโดปามีนของพยาบาลและเภสัชกร Understanding on Dopamine Prescription Orders among Nurses and Pharmacists

Abstract

Objective: To explore understandings on dopamine prescription both ratioand non-ratio orders among nurses and pharmacists. Methods: Thisdescriptive study used survey questionnaire to ask nurses and pharmacistsin 3 general hospitals in 3 provinces in the central Thailand. Ratioprescription order was dopamine (2:1) iv drip 10 mcd/min and the non-ratioone was dopamine 400 mg + NSS 100 ml iv drip 12 mcd/min. Questionsincluded amount of dopamine and large volume parenterals (LVP) to beused, rate of infusion, reported ability to prepare the admixture, number ofdopamine ampoules and LVP bags required/dispensed. Nurses werefurther asked preparation methods and replacing volume. Results werepresented as frequencies and percentages. Results: A total of 56 nursesand 18 pharmacists participated in the study. For ratio orders, correctamount of dopamine and LVP to be used was answered by 76.79% nursesand 100% pharmacists, correct rate of infusion by 33.93% nurses and72.22% pharmacists, reported ability to prepare the admixture by 80.36%nurses and 61.11% pharmacists, and correct number of dopamineampoules and LVP bags required/dispensed by 82.14% nurses and83.33% pharmacists. Among nurses, 69.64% and 55.36% stated correctpreparation methods and replacing volume, respectively. For non-ratioorders, reported ability to prepare the admixture was reported by 87.50%nurses and 72.22% pharmacists, and correct number of dopamineampoules and LVP bags required/dispensed was reported by 73.21%nurses and 83.33% pharmacists. Conclusion: A conservable number ofnurses and pharmacists were confused with dopamine prescription orders,where it was more prevalent among nurses. More understanding ondopamine prescription is an urgent need.Keywords: understanding, prescription orders, dopamine, ratio order