Excess waste is a well-known known driver of inefficiency in the US health care system. Medication waste contributes to this inefficiency and has recently been described among cancer medications, but it may also be attributable to the syringes used to deliver injectable medications. Syringe dead space is the volume of residual fluid that remains within the syringe after the plunger is fully depressed during medication injection. High dead-space syringes (HDSS), compared with low dead-space syringes (LDSS), are associated with increased risk for medication waste. If costly injectable medications are administered using HDSS, syringe dead space may contribute to excess medication waste in the US health care system. We estimated differences in the cost of injectable medication waste attributable to HDSS and LDSS
