Implementation of an Outpatient HD-MTX Initiative.

Introduction: Methotrexate (MTX) a folate antagonist is often given in high doses (≥500 mg/m) to treat a variety of disease processes. While inpatient administration has been the norm, outpatient administration, has been shown to be safe, effective, and patient centered. Here in we describe development of an outpatient HDMTX protocol and our initial experience.

Decreasing Cost and Decreasing Length of Stay After Implementation of Updated High-Dose Methotrexate Discharge Criteria.

Purpose: High-dose methotrexate (HD-MTX) is commonly used for the treatment of osteosarcoma or for CNS involvement in lymphoproliferative neoplasms. It is often given in the inpatient setting because of monitoring requirements after administration. We conducted a process improvement initiative to change our institutional discharge criteria for HD-MTX from 0.

Optimizing Drug Delivery of Small-Volume Infusions.

When administering intermittent secondary intravenous infusions, commonly referred to as intravenous piggyback (IVPB) infusions, residual medication remains in the administration set and bag. No previous studies exist examining the optimal technique to infuse the residual medication. The aims of this study were to identify various IVPB ancillary techniques used to administer medication residing in the secondary administration set and bag following an infusion, evaluate the potential drug loss associated with each technique, and recommend a standard ancillary technique for administration of select small-volume IVPB infusions.