Development of a compatibility chart for intravenous Y-site drug administration in a pediatric intensive care unit.

Pediatric patients admitted to intensive care units are likely candidates for intravenous drug administration. These patients may sometimes have limited vascular access, so availability of compatibility charts for intravenous Y-site administration may help daily clinical practice. A 2-dimensional table with the 47 intravenous drugs more commonly administered in the authors' pediatric intensive care unit was drawn up based on a review of 4 databases routinely used for checking drug compatibilities. The level of concordance between the various sources used for the review was strong (κ>0.8). However, an awareness of the limitations of each of these databases will help to optimize search results.