Quality/Patient Safety Goal:
Reduction in IV Acetaminophen
Goal & Summary
We are committed to effective, evidence-based care at Akron Children’s Hospital while providing a patient- and family-centered approach. We sought to improve our appropriate use of intravenous acetaminophen and thus reduce situations where alternative oral or rectal acetaminophen use would have been preferred.
Why is this important?
Intravenous acetaminophen reduces opioid use and is indicated for certain situations where oral or rectal acetaminophen is not an option. However, intravenous acetaminophen is consistently one of the top 10 pharmacy costs in the pediatric intensive care unit. By optimizing IV acetaminophen prescribing, we can reduce patient charges while improving evidence-based acetaminophen use.
What are we doing to improve?
An improvement team was assembled involving performance improvement specialists, physicians, clinical nurse specialists, nurses and nurse practitioners to use quality improvement methodologies and make stepwise tests of changes until sustained reduction in intravenous acetaminophen was achieved.
What progress have we made?
Who are we partnering with to share best practices?
Our leaders presented portions of their improvement work at meetings of the Akron Children’s Hospital Clinical Effectiveness steering committee and at the Society of Critical Care Medicine’s World Congress. Their work was published in the journal of Pediatric Critical Care Medicine.
