Where should Resuscitation drugs be kept?

 

Answered by Tracy Green

Resuscitation drugs should be readily accessible in an emergency and not locked away – CQC Mythbuster 9

Practices should consider where a patient presenting with an emergency condition would be managed. They should make sure this place would be appropriate. Drugs in the practice to help manage medical emergencies should be held in safe and appropriate storage conditions.

This list is based on current practice. It is modified from two Drugs and Therapeutics Bulletins in 2015, and stakeholder engagement with medical directors of several GP practices.

This is not intended to be either exhaustive or mandatory. The final decision needs to be taken in context so choices/omissions can be professionally justifiable, and risk assessed.

Resuscitation Council UK guidance states:

i.      Keep emergency drugs in a box clearly marked ‘for emergency use’

ii.      Boxes should be tamper evident

iii.      Keep boxes at strategic and accessible sites and not in a locked cupboard