Caution on Accidentally Giving Nimodipine Intravenously

This story originally aired in November 2005. In this Special Edition of PSN, we are repeating some of the most important safety issues that continue to pose a public health problem.

In a recent Medication Safety Alert, ISMP warns about inadvertently administering nimodipine, or Nimotop, intravenously. This has resulted in patient deaths and serious injuries. Nimodipine is a calcium channel blocker that's used to prevent vasospasm in patients with subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Nimodipine capsules are given by mouth, but for patients who can't swallow, the contents of an oral capsule can be extracted into a syringe and then injected into the nasogastric tube.

Although putting it into an NG tube is still not the same as giving it IV, once it's in a parenteral syringe, accidents can happen. ISMP notes that several incidents have occurred when a patient has been injected IV, and then suffered severe hypotension, cardiac arrest, and death.

ISMP recommends that pharmacists warn patient care personnel about the danger of IV administration each time nimodipine is dispensed. ISMP also notes that some pharmacies are trying to prevent this problem by preparing nimodipine in advance for patients who can't swallow, rather than having it prepared in the patient care area. They're packaging the drug in amber oral syringes, and labeling them "for oral (NG) use only."

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• Intravenous
• Nimodipine
• Nimotop
• Patient
• Death
• Serious
• Injury
• Vasospasm
• Subarachnoid
• Hemorrhage
• FDA
• Drug
• Reaction