Assessing the Clinical, Economic, and Health Resource Utilization Impacts of Prefilled Syringes Versus Conventional Medication Administration Methods: Results From a Systematic Literature Review

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this systematic review was to assess the clinical, economic, and health resource utilization outcomes associated with the use of prefilled syringes in medication administration compared with traditional preparation methods. DATA SOURCES: We conducted a systematic literature review to evaluate outcomes such as medication errors, wastage, time savings, and contamination in prefilled syringes. Our search encompassed multiple databases, including PubMed and Embase, for studies published between January 1, 2017, and November 1, 2022. STUDY SELECTION AND DATA EXTRACTION: Peer-reviewed publications meeting our inclusion criteria underwent rigorous screening, including title, abstract, and full-text article assessments, performed by two reviewers. DATA SYNTHESIS: Among reviewed articles, 24 met our eligibility criteria. Selected studies were primarily observational (46%) and conducted in Europe (46%). Our findings indicated that prefilled syringes consistently reduced medication errors (by 10%-73%), adverse events (from 1.1 to 0.275 per 100 administrations), wastage (by up to 80% of drug), and preparation time (from 4.0 to 338.0 seconds) (ranges varied by drug type, setting, and dosage). However, there was limited data on contamination. Economically, prefilled syringes reduced waste and error rates, which may translate into overall savings. RELEVANCE TO PATIENT CARE AND CLINICAL PRACTICE: This review highlights the value of prefilled syringes, which can streamline medication delivery, save nursing time, and reduce preventable medication errors. Moreover, prefilled syringes have the potential to minimize medication wastage, optimizing resource utilization and efficiency in health care settings. CONCLUSION AND RELEVANCE: Our findings provide new insights into clinical and economic benefits of prefilled syringe adoption. These benefits include improved medication delivery and safety, which can lead to time and cost reductions for health care departments, hospitals, and health systems. However, further real-world research on clinical and economic outcomes, especially in contamination, is needed to better understand the benefits of prefilled syringes.