IV Push Practice

Nurses General Nursing

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I'm a 5/5 semester nursing student and am looking for some type of web site that has IV push practices on it. I can totally handle hanging IV's however when it comes to a IV push I need a little more practice with the formula. Any help would be EXTREMELY appreciated!

I can usually figure it out in my head (ex. give 2 mL over 2 minutes = 0.1 every 6 seconds). I'm much better at figuring things out in my head, but I need to practice with the actual formula (otherwise my preceptor doesn't believe me when I come up with the answer). :lol2:

Thanks a bunch!!!;)

Specializes in Trauma, MICU.
I usually refer to an IV drug book or call pharmacy if I'm unsure of how fast to push something.

I can...like you...look in a drug book to find out how long to push a drug. It's the formula that shows how much to push per second (ex. 0.1ml every 12 seconds) that I was inquiring about.

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Specializes in Intensive Care and Cardiology.
I can...like you...look in a drug book to find out how long to push a drug. It's the formula that shows how much to push per second (ex. 0.1ml every 12 seconds) that I was inquiring about.

Sorry Deb, I just misunderstood what you were looking for.

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Specializes in tele, ICU.

I always look it up first...if the drug guide doesn't have the answer, I call pharmacy. 40 mg of IV Lasix (according to my book) can be pushed over 1-2 mins; however, anything more than that I infuse via a syringe pump to avoid ototoxicity.

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Specializes in Trauma, MICU.
Sorry Deb, I just misunderstood what you were looking for.

That's ok! It seems like nobody else has heard of a formula. Maybe my instructors are crazy??? :idea: I guess the best thing for me to do would be to look in the book (until I'm sure of the drug) and push it slowly.

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Specializes in RN- Med/surg.

It's good to see some of the responses here. I read the OP and thought "what!" I've been on the floor orienting for almost 2 months now..and never used a formula other than how many mg/minute.

For lasix..we were taught 10 mg/minute. So if I give 80mg it's over 8 minutes.

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Specializes in Trauma, MICU.
It's good to see some of the responses here. I read the OP and thought "what!" I've been on the floor orienting for almost 2 months now..and never used a formula other than how many mg/minute.

For lasix..we were taught 10 mg/minute. So if I give 80mg it's over 8 minutes.

That's funny...I was like "WHAT!" after I've read all of the responses. :lol2: I cannot understand why my instructors would give us that goofy formula if no other nurses use it? :trout:

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Lasix a MG a minute? or a mil a minute? I've given as much as 240 mg of Lasix at a time(too fast and you can cause deafness) but 240 minutes is waaaaay too slow. Frankly eyeballing it has always served me well. When in doubt call the pharmD for your floor. That's why they have the D after their degree. They are a great resource.

LOL! You caught me sleepin' at the keyboard again! :D

Yes, a ml per minute ;) I was watching the syringe on the video behind my eyelids and didn't pay attention to the typing! Ha!

BTW, 240 mg of Lasix at one shot? Yow! I think the most I ever pushed was 100, and that struck me as "wow".

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That's funny...I was like "WHAT!" after I've read all of the responses. :lol2: I cannot understand why my instructors would give us that goofy formula if no other nurses use it? :trout:

Cruelty, perhaps? ;)

Most of the stuff I learned in school I totally understand why they did what they did, how they did it. It's made me better at nursing, I think, than some of my counterparts who didn't get that kind of grueling clinical time.

But then again, there's that occasional "WHAT?" when I think back to what we were taught versus what we really do.

You can add that formula for IVPs to your "WHAT?" list. I have memories of whacking every last air molecule out of a syringe, going blind trying to see if there was one speck of a bubble we missed. They had us thinking that if an iota of a fragment of an air bump was in any syringe ever, we'd kill someone. LOL!

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