From: Becky Ginn
To: Pharmacy Department
Sent: Friday, December 8, 2017 8:14:45 AM
Subject: labetalol SYRINGE shortage - PLAN at HH Main
Attachment: labetalol multidose vials flyer

We are experiencing an interruption in our supply of labetalol 5 mg/4 mL syringes . Due to the syringe shortage, we are going to transition some of the high-use areas to using a multi-dose 20 mL vial instead of the 4 mL syringes. NOTE: the vials and the syringes are the same concentration (5 mg/mL). Please see the attached flyer that describes the process for the nursing units.
**labetalol vials are NOT on national backorder....only the syringes**

PHARMACY KEY POINTS: 

1. As units are transitioned to the multi-dose vials, the syringes will be removed from their machine.

2. The 20 mL multi-dose vials must be protected from light (kept in the box). When the 20 mL vials are dispensed by pharmacy, we will be placing a 28-day expiration date label on both the outside of the box and on the vial on the inside. These expiration date labels can be printed from MILT (under labetalol 6-barcode label entry).

3. During this time, some machines will have 20 mL vials and some will continue to have only the 4 mL syringes.

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Becky Ginn, Pharm.D.
Huntsville Hospital