The Misuse of Vials

Vials are bottles of various sizes used to store medications in hospitals and other health care settings. Physicians and nurses access and administer the medications in these vials with needles and syringes. A single-use or single-dose vial is designed to be used only once before discarding. A multiple-use or multiple-dose vial can be used more than once, as long as the vial is disinfected after each use and the medication is accessed with a sterile needle and syringe each time. A multiple-use or multiple-dose vial contains preservatives that extend the medication's shelf life.

The Joint Commission recently published a Sentinel Event Alert about how to prevent infections from the misuse of vials. These infections have adversely affected thousands of patients through occurrences and outbreaks of infections including hepatitis B and C virus, meningitis, and epidural abscesses. Valek and Company, Inc., worked as part of The Joint Commission team to develop the alert. Read the entire Sentinel Event Alert.