intravenous retrograde administration

[GingerSue]

for what reasons is intravenous retrograde administration

used?

why is the medication injected into the port in a direction away from the

patient, causing it to flow into the tubing above the injection port?

[TazziRN, RN]

Uh.......is this even possible? The ports point toward the pt, how can it be injected up the tubing??

[GingerSue]

just reading my textbook and this is the explanation,

so I'm trying to understand the procedure and the

reason

thanks

[TazziRN, RN]

I've never heard of this. Retrograde administration usually refers to tests, like a retrograde urocystogram. The contrast is inserted through a foley up into the bladder and up the ureters into the kidneys rather than injected into an IV line. I'm trying to picture retrograde injection through an IV line and I just can't picture that.

Anyone?

[CritterLover, BSN, RN]

i *think* this a technique used in some peds areas to deliver iv abx.

i vaguely remember it from nursing school (peds rotation), but haven't seen it since.

what i am remembering is: reconstitute drug, draw up appropriate amount. pinch off tubing below port, and inject medication. medication will then flow up, towards the bag of iv maintenence fluids. program pump to deliver drug over desired time period.

i'm not sure if this technique would work with the tubing we use at work; it has a filter at the top of the tubing, and may not allow retrograde flow.

and i could be entirely wrong, but i'm thinking this is what they are talking about.

[TazziRN, RN]

Oh, okay...I've seen that done, didn't know what it was called. I was always nervous about doing it that way because of potential reactions.....with the abx in the mainline you can't just stop the abx and flush the pt.

[Jolie, BSN]

i *think* this a technique used in some peds areas to deliver iv abx.

i vaguely remember it from nursing school (peds rotation), but haven't seen it since.

what i am remembering is: reconstitute drug, draw up appropriate amount. pinch off tubing below port, and inject medication. medication will then flow up, towards the bag of iv maintenence fluids. program pump to deliver drug over desired time period.

i'm not sure if this technique would work with the tubing we use at work; it has a filter at the top of the tubing, and may not allow retrograde flow.

and i could be entirely wrong, but i'm thinking this is what they are talking about.

you've got it right. you are also right that it is a largely out-dated method of administering meds. in peds virtually all ivf are given via pump, including intermittant meds such as antibiotics, which are run via microbore tubing on a syringe pump. this enables the nurse to know exactly when the med is administered, and to minimize the fluid volume given.

[4theBetterGetter, RN]

Critterlover is right. Hardly ever used anymore ...was in peds...only thing we did different was another syringe was placed at a higher port than the med port to recieve the displaced iv fluids. Ole timey!

[anne74]

Don't you love how much time is spent in nursing school learning about obsolete techniques? Just enough to distract and confuse students from focusing on real-world knowledge. Kind of like the NCLEX.

[GingerSue]

thanks everybody