Calculating syringe driver medications

1) The starting dose of medication should reflect the total of the subcutaneous doses used in a 24 hour periodand any regular medication used for symptom control including analgesia, anti-emetics etc. 2) The table below gives some guidance when starting a syringe driver, but prescribing should be considered on an individual patient basis. • Ensure that drug calculations are checked according to legislative requirements and organisational policy and protocols when the syringe driver is set-up17; • Use only one type of syringe driver in each setting to prevent confusion which may lead to errors6, 8, 10, 18;. syringe driver to work out the new opioid breakthrough dose each time a change is made. Always use the chart above to help calculate the correct doses. Calculation of breakthrough/ rescue / prn doses Oral prn doses: · Morphine or Oxycodone: 1/6th of 24 hour oral dose Subcutaneous: · Morphine Oxycodone: 1/6th of 24 hour sc syringe driver (SD) dose.

specialist palliative care services provide syringe-driver medication charts for use in the community and residential care facilities. Calculating doses of morphine Morphine is the most commonly used opioid in syringe drivers in New Zealand. Patients who are not currently on any opioids. See conversion table for calculating doses, changing from oral to SD use and using other opioids e.g. converting the total daily dose of oral morphine to the total daily dose of subcutaneous diamorphine by dividing by 3, e.g. MST 60mg bd=mg/day =diamorphine. syringe driver to work out the new opioid breakthrough dose each time a change is made. Always use the chart above to help calculate the correct doses. Calculation of breakthrough/ rescue / prn doses Oral prn doses: · Morphine or Oxycodone: 1/6th of 24 hour oral dose Subcutaneous: · Morphine Oxycodone: 1/6th of 24 hour sc syringe driver (SD) dose.

Considerations when using a syringe driver Calculating oral morphine to subcutaneous diamorphine. Calculating other prn medication. The use of syringe drivers as a method of drug delivery to control symptoms in ), for example, errors in drug calculations, drug stability. calculations drawing up medications and the management of syringe drivers to include how to set up a syringe driver. The new member‟s.