Specialties Critical
Published Feb 25, 2013
You are reading page 2 of INSULIN DRIPS
tazz_rn
9 Posts
ICU and 2:1
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Bringonthenight
310 Posts
Any floor ratio of anywhere between 1:1-1:10.
Hourly finger pricks with sliding scale.
meanmaryjean, DNP, RN
7,899 Posts
(Peds hospital)
PICU only, 2:1 nurse : patient ratio MAX.
If 1:1 - no admits for that RN, but can take over another nurse's patient to allow admits.
SaoirseRN
650 Posts
Med surg. We usually try not to have insulin drips on the floor because they are heavy workload when our ratios are 1:4 or 1:5.
We have a pre-printed protocol, which starts with an insulin bolus based on blood glucose reading, followed by hourly-adjusted drip rate based on the bolus and bg readings. The required monitoring is stated right on the protocol/order sheet and we keep a copy on our (still paper) MAR to reference.
We do try to send insulin drips to ICU for the workload rationale, but it isn't always possible when we only have 5 ICU beds.
bostonrnbsn
14 Posts
Medsurg, up to 5 pts with hourly blood sugar checks and titration at times... Blah!
lmccrn62, MSN, RN
384 Posts
I work in Pennsylvania and on med-surg floor 1:5 or 1:6. High mark of Pennsylvania gives money to hospitals and insulin drips, crazy insulin coverages are all too common. I think it's unsafe and risky!
SwansonRN
465 Posts
ICU 1-2 BS checks per protocol anywhere from q15-q2h.
Other medical floors and Step Downs have insulin gtts, but they have to be less than x units/hr and their blood sugars need to be relatively stable.