Introduction Every clinical area is equipped with either a resuscitation trolley containing a red emergency drug box (2222 box) or only the 2222 box for emergencies such as cardiac arrests. According to national¹ and local guidelines each of these trolleys contains a certain set of drugs and a CD size oxygen cylinder.

Aims were

• to audit compliance of drugs, including the medical gas oxygen, with national1 and local guidelines

• to audit compliance with the required daily check of resuscitation trolleys and 2222 boxes

• to audit frequency of expired medicines

• to audit compliance with up to date resuscitation guidelines

Aims wereThe aims of the audit were to assess the pharmaceutical contents in the resuscitation trolleys, monitor if regular checks are done to the trolleys, compare the pharmaceutical contents in the trolleys to those on the local clinical area’s stock list and review the resuscitation guidelines on the trolley.

Method A data collection form was created which included the drugs and local Trust resuscitation trolley content list. A free text box was included to capture drugs or drug related guidelines found on the trolley that were not officially listed.

Results Forty seven clinical areas were included in the data collection, 32 held a resuscitation trolley and a 2222 box, 15 held a 2222 box only.

Compliance of drug content: 50%. Reason found for poor compliance was that most clinical areas (84.4%) did not keep 250 ml sodium chloride bags as routine stock on the ward causing a delay in replenishing following an emergency. Twenty of the trolleys contained drugs not included on the list.

Compliance with equipment list

Compliance of Oxygen cylinders on trolley: 5/29. Critical care unit trolleys did not keep oxygen cylinder as each bed space keeps a cylinder. One cylinder was found out of date.

Compliance rate with daily trolley checks: 29/32

Guidelines were found on 31/32 trolleys. Where guidelines were found, revision of the information was required.

Recommendations Actions following the audit included changing the trolley content list: 250 mL sodium chloride 0.9 bags to a 500 ml sodium chloride 0.9% w/v bag which is kept routinely in each area. The guidelines are being revised to provide clearer information on dosing and administration for children.

The Trust resuscitation committee have agreed to re-audit at least every 6 months.

Conclusion After the completion of the audit the results were presented to the Resuscitation Committee and implementations were suggested in order to improve the management of resuscitation trolleys in the hospital. Together it was agreed, that a re-audit should be done in the future (3–6 months’ time) to see if these recommendations have improved the current situation.

Reference

1. Resuscitation Council (UK). Acute care: Equipment and drug lists 2013. https://www.resus.org.uk/quality-standards/acute-care-equipment-and-drug-lists/#paed [Accessed: 6 April 2016].