Buyer's Guides
An oral syringe is purple so it cannot be confused with an intravenous one. That single design decision exists because the mistake it prevents has killed people.
OMS Clinical Team
Product Specialists
Oral and enteral syringes are coloured, usually purple or amber, and are designed so they cannot connect to an intravenous line. That is not a branding choice. It exists because giving an oral medicine by the intravenous route has caused deaths, and the design makes the connection physically difficult rather than relying on someone reading a label correctly at three in the morning.
A standard Luer syringe has a tapered tip that mates with intravenous lines, cannulas and needles. That is what it is for. An oral or enteral syringe has a tip shaped so it will not seat into a Luer connector, and it is coloured so the difference is obvious before anyone tries.
Both draw up liquid. Both have a plunger and graduations. Under pressure, in poor light, with several medicines on a trolley, the colour is doing more work than the shape.
UK patient safety guidance has for many years required that oral and enteral liquid medicines are measured and given using syringes that cannot connect to intravenous equipment. The purple convention grew out of that, and it is now what staff are trained to look for.
If you supply a clear Luer syringe for an oral dose because it was the nearest thing to hand, you have removed the safeguard. That is worth saying plainly to anyone ordering, because on a purchasing spreadsheet the two look like interchangeable line items at different prices.
Small volumes need small syringes. Measuring 0.4ml in a 5ml syringe is far less accurate than measuring it in a 1ml one, because the graduations are further apart relative to the dose. For paediatric and small adult doses this matters more than people expect.
A tapered bung sits in the neck of the medicine bottle and lets the syringe draw the dose without tipping or pouring. It also reduces spillage and makes the volume easier to read.
Bungs are sized to the bottle neck, not to the syringe, so they need ordering against the bottles you actually use. A bung that does not seat properly is worse than none, because it moves while the dose is drawn.
Oral syringes supplied for patient use are single-patient items. Where a patient or carer reuses one at home between doses of the same medicine, it should be washed and dried thoroughly and replaced regularly. They are not designed for repeated cleaning and the graduations wear.
In a care setting, treat them as single use unless your own policy says otherwise. They cost little and the alternative is a cross-contamination question nobody wants to answer.
Practice around enteral connectors continues to change, particularly with the move towards ISO 80369-3 connectors designed to be incompatible with other systems by design rather than by colour alone. If you are specifying for a new service or updating a policy, check the current NHS position rather than relying on what was true when the stock cupboard was last set up.
From our catalogue
Delivery as soon as Thursday 29 October
Inc. VAT
Delivery as soon as Thursday 29 October
Inc. VAT
Delivery as soon as Thursday 29 October
Inc. VAT
Delivery as soon as Thursday 29 October
Inc. VAT
