Amiodarone Question

[Creamsoda, ASN, RN]

Hi, im new to Critical care. I just have a question about giving amiodarone boluses in a stable patient. Because it is only compatible with D5W, how do you run the bolus. Do you piggyback it with a NS medline, or do you mix up a D5W medline and piggyback it to that, or just run the small minibag as the primary, but then not all the medication would get to the patient as some is still left in the line. Im just wondering because i was told that it can easily crystalize if in contact with NS, there is a big risk of loosing you central line port because of it. What do you all do?

Cher

[fgoff]

Its been awhile since I worked ER & had to do this but if remember correcty we used the mini bag/primary followed by a mini bag flush(at least half) to clear the line......

[msn2008, MSN, RN]

We always follow our bolus with a continuous drip at 1mg for 6 hours and then drop the rate to .5mg. So I don't have the problem with not all the med getting into the patient, since the same line is used for the bolus and the drip. Of course, the filter is inline and both the filter and line are changed with each new bottle.

Melissa