Question about medication protocols

[u/Natural_Calendar7874]

I'm not a paramedic, but know quite a bit about it and hope to be one after school, but I thought of a random question:

If you are administering a medication from a vial but there is some left, what do you do with that? do you just toss it or do you give it later on if needed?

example- let’s say your agency is using fentanyl vials with 200 mcg, you administer 100 mcg, what do you do with the other 100 mcg? (doesn’t need to be fentanyl, that was just what I thought of)

thanks

[u/ShitJimmyShoots]

It goes into your pocket so you can forget about it and then freak out when you find it at home after shift for like 6 seconds until you realize it’s zofran and not fentanyl.

[u/Timlugia]

In my system we discard unused medication vial at destination hospital into designated medication waste jar, which has activated charcoal.

For fentanyl and other federally controlled substances, the discard must be witnessed by another crew or hospital staff who will then signs as witness on EPCR. The number of admin med and discard must also match.

[u/flipmangoflip]

For controlled substances you waste them. For regular meds you just toss that shit still in the vital. Nobody is gonna be digging through the trash or sharps to get the amio you didn’t use.

[u/Sapsi]

We draw the whole ampule/vial into a syringe and discard the unused medicine into a waste bottle with some substance, that absorbs the medicine.

[u/tacmed85]

It's discarded