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Syringe labels are imperative to medical facilities and pharmacies because they decrease the risk of administering the wrong medications or prescriptions to patients. Medicines are often pre-loaded into syringes to quickly provide a drug to a patient and to ensure proper dosage is given. However, the practice of having injectable drugs available also increases the risk of administration errors. While health professionals are trained to handle these items appropriately, a number of scenarios have occurred due to improper labeling or lack of identification.

A nurse might be pre-loading syringes, but is suddenly called away to another situation. The doctor might think it is a certain drug only to find out after that they have administered the wrong one to the patient. In these situations, the result might only be minimal harm of the patient depending on allergies or other factors. Medicines also do not always mix well together making syringe labels an essential part of any health facility or pharmacy. Many facilities use easy to read syringe labels to make certain the correct medicine and dosage are given.

What Are the Benefits of Syringe Labels?

An unlabeled syringe easily results in the administration of the wrong medicine or dose. Additionally, any unlabeled item containing an anesthetic or another type of drug will often pass through several hands. During this passing, the writing on the identifier might smudge or wear. At other times it could be unlabeled making it hard to identify the medicine once it reaches its destination. Another example might be loading a syringe with a medicine, but then leaving it in an area such as where the saline flushes are kept. This could result in the IV being accidentally flushed with a drug rather than saline.