[The effect of colored syringes and a colored sheet on the incidence of syringe swaps during anesthetic management].

Background: Syringe swap is an important problem in anesthetic care, causing harm to patients. We examined the effect of colored syringe and a colored sheet on the incidence of syringe swaps during anesthetic management.

Methods: We determined the color code. The blue-syringe contains local anesthetics; yellow-syringe, sympathomimetic drugs; and white-syringe with a red label fixed opposite the scale, muscle relaxants. The colored sheet displays the photographs of the syringe with drug name, dose and volume. The colored syringe and colored sheet were supplied for use from February 2004. We compared the incidence of syringe swaps during the period from February 2004 to January 2005 with that from February 2003 to January 2004.

Results: Although five syringe swaps were recorded from February 2003 to January 2004, in 5901 procedures, we encountered no syringe swaps from February 2004 to January 2005, in 6078 procedures. The colored syringe and colored sheet significantly decreased the incidence of syringe swaps during anesthetic management (P <0.05).

Conclusions: The use of the sheet together with colored syringes can prevent syringe swaps during anesthesia.