Air in Line...

[anita56]

Hello AllNurses,

I've been a new nurse for about 6 months. I have a problem after priming antibiotics or other IVPB I always get a air in line error when I pump them on the alaris pump (I use alaris tubing). I prime slow and I see no visible air bubbles in the tubing so why do I keep getting this error? Is there is a specific technique for priming lines that will not do this? And if I keep getting this message on the alaris pump how would I reprime the line?

[lavenderskies, BSN]

Alaris pumps are finicky. And I don't have an answer for tricks to avoid this. I'm hoping someone else does

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

Our pumps are also a bit finicky about air in the line. What I do is clamp off the tubing, fill the drip chamber, hang the bag and here's the secret... I make a "U" out of the tubing right at the first port in the tubing so that the port is inverted and I slowly fill the tubing past that first port. Once that's done, I prime the line as usual and there will be no air in the line above the pump and therefore the pump won't go nuts over air in the line. If the tubing has a built-in cartridge, that just takes practice flooding the cartridge to remove the air from it. It's just a timing thing for those cartridges because you have to invert, begin flooding the line and flip the cartridge over at exactly the right time to prevent an air bubble from remaining in the cartridge. If you have one of those systems, do NOT allow the drip chamber to empty or repriming will be almost impossible.

Given that you're using the Alaris tubing, try the technique I use. It very well could be that you are getting an air bubble in the first port and that bubble finds its way to the pump while you're using the pump... especially if the port becomes "inverted" if the bag is hung a little low.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

Good advice lavenderskies. You are getting air in the line when you prime it so you must figure out you can to prevent it.Before you spike your bag or bottle squeeze the drip chamber flat as much as possible and spike while you squeezing. This will also the air vent to work properly. Once the bag or bottle is spiked invert the tubing while very slowing priming.Air will get trapped at the bottom of the y sites so keep that U shape and if any air get trapped at that location flick it with your first finger at the Y site until it fills and the air is moved along in the tubing.Make certain to invert the cartridge as lavenderskies described.You can flick any air out of there too.If you are not good at flicking you can use a wooden pencil to flick with.

[offlabel]

Go into 'options' and change the "micro" air or bubble detection thingy setting from 250 to 500.