Nurses General Nursing
Published Nov 8, 2006
You are reading page 2 of ? regarding phenergan administration & being a concerned patient
dcastlewood
26 Posts
Hospital policy where i work is to put 25mg promethazine in a 50cc bag of NS and give it piggyback. I either do that or inject the promethazine into a liter bag of NS or LR if it's gonna be a bolus.
Spidey's mom, ADN, BSN, RN
11,304 Posts
We give IV phenergan all the time and I've never had a problem in the 9 years I've been a nurse. We dilute it and push it slowly from the farthest port of course. Never had a vein "blow" because of it and haven't had anyone c/o pain.
steph
iHeartNICU
293 Posts
Thanks for the discussion everyone. As a nursing student I guess I follow everything by the books and know that if phenergan iv push is ordered to dilute and do it very slowly. I didn't realize that it was so potentially hazardous though. Thanks for that article Daytonite. I would really like to do something about this and get this policy changed as I feel that it is unsafe and a possible lawsuit as well if something were to happen. Thanks again for all the discussion.
Maybe not necessarily (sp?) policy change but this subject is serious and needs to be brought to the attention of everyone involved w/ drug administration.
Antikigirl, ASN, RN
2,595 Posts
OUCH! I give lots of phen in my line of work...I dilute it in 10 ml of saline, give SLOW push, and back it up with another 10 of saline. I also will apply a cold compress if it stings immediately and that seems to help the pt with sting (some people get the sting no matter how slow).
Also..this is true of Toridol! Dilute in 10 mL of saline, good 10ml flush!
THis is facility protocol where I am from!
lyceeboo
105 Posts
Thanks for bringing this up, 1NAmyllion. Does anyone here give much IV valium, Tordol and/or Benadryl? As a pt I've had all three of these drugs pushed undiluted in the proximal port all they all burned!!!:angryfire
That was 5 yrs ago. Maybe they are given diluted now. I'll look them up when I get home. Thanks for any info.
O yeah...I was just talking to a friend too..and with patients that seem more sensitive to phen or others...I will actually get the 10ml saline, add the med in the syringe..and our IV pumps have a secondary that fits our syringes. I will program it on secondary piggy back for say 9ml (to be safe) at a slow pace per patient comfort! I have also done this for times I am busy as all get go and my push too fast...
But this technique..watch that machine and patient. I underset my volume for checking on purpose, and check in every few minutes.
Oh and of course...make sure that you flush the line and whatever is going in primary is compatable. I am lucky...most of my pts are on compatable IVF's..and flush well after too!
UKRNinUSA, RN
346 Posts
The facility I work at has recently banned it in the IV form exactly because of these problems. I agree with the poster that said being a patient makes you a better nurse. I was an ER patient once upon a time - I had nice nurse and jaded nurse looking after me - it certainly gave me a fresh perspective and made me a better nurse.