Approved Hospital Formulary
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Approved Hospital Formulary
1/27/23 ef Vimpat Injection Go-Live
January 31, 2023
From: "Eric Franks Pharmacy" <eric.franks@hhsys.org>
To: "Pharmacists" <grp_allpharm@hhsys.org>
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2023 7:45:53 AM
Subject: Vimpat Injection Go-Live
To: "Pharmacists" <grp_allpharm@hhsys.org>
Sent: Friday, January 27, 2023 7:45:53 AM
Subject: Vimpat Injection Go-Live
Good Morning All,
As you may already know, Huntsville Hospital is moving forward with its classification of Vimpat (lacosamide) as a controlled substance.
We are now planning on rolling out this change house-wide on Tuesday, January 31 (originally set for Tuesday, January 24).
I wanted to provide some details about the change:
- All IV doses of Vimpat (lacosamide) 400 mg and less will now be administered via slow IV push, administered at a rate of 80 mg/minute or slower for adult patients at HH Main and Madison Hospital. Women and Children's Pharmacy will continue to administer Vimpat via IV piggyback for all patients. New order sentences have been created in Cerner to help guide providers to pick the IV push option. The IV piggyback option will still be available in Med Manager if it is absolutely necessary, but we will treat it almost like a "No sub" scenario with IV push being the preferred option for these doses. If a provider still orders the IV piggyback option for these doses, we ask at verification to convert it to IV push unless explicitly marked as a "No sub" or "Do not convert" - we don't foresee this being an issue.
- Any doses above 400 mg will need to be given via IV piggyback (this should be extremely rare).
- The Vimpat vials (200 mg/20 mL) will be loaded into necessary Pyxis systems. RNs will draw up the correct volume for the dose and administer undiluted via slow IV push at a rate of 80 mg/minute or slower, flushing as they do following other IV push meds. Nursing staff will document any waste appropriately in Pyxis.
- Education council has distributed an educational flyer that we created for the nurses. See attached if interested.
As this goes live, please let us know if there are any issues you encounter. Thanks to everyone who made this change possible!