Salbutamol Injectable: Dosing and Precautions
Salbutamol injectable guidance for threatened premature labour, with infusion titration and high-risk maternal monitoring precautions.
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source date listed on the source page
Guide category
Potentially dangerous, obsolete, or ineffective
Safety boundary
Prescription medicine information for clinician-guided use.
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Therapeutic action
Uterine relaxant.
Indications
Threatened premature labour.
Forms and strengths, route of administration
0.5 mg in 1 ml ampoule (0.5 mg/ml) for IV infusion.
Dosage
- Dilute 5 mg (10 ampoules of 0.5 mg) in 500 ml of 5% glucose or 0.9% sodium chloride to obtain a solution of 10 micrograms/ml.
- Start infusion at the rate of 15 to 20 micrograms/minute (30 to 40 drops/minute).
- If contractions persist, increase the rate by 10 to 20 drops/minute every 30 minutes until uterine contractions cease.
- Do not exceed 45 micrograms/minute (90 drops/minute).
- Continue for one hour after contractions have ceased, then reduce the rate by half every 6 hours.
Duration
48 hours maximum.
Contra-indications, adverse effects, precautions
- Do not administer to patients with pre-eclampsia, eclampsia, uterine haemorrhage, intra-uterine infection, intra-uterine foetal death, placenta praevia, placental abruption, rupture of membranes, multiple pregnancy, or severe cardiopathy.
- Administer with caution to patients with diabetes or hyperthyroidism.
- Do not combine with nifedipine.
- May cause pulmonary oedema, myocardial ischemia, foetal and maternal tachycardia, hypotension, tremor, headache, hypokalaemia, and hyperglycaemia.
- Monitor maternal pulse regularly. Reduce the infusion rate in the event of maternal tachycardia over 120/minute.
- Pregnancy: no contra-indication.
- Breast-feeding: avoid.
Source
MSF Essential drugs practical guidelines (January 2026)
This page combines source-derived medicine reference sections with Kenza editorial context, while leaving out the Storage and Remarks sections from the source batch.
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