another IV question...

[cheyne stokes]

Hello everyone,

I am a student and the other day I got to hang my first IV meds. I have a question that might sound silly but I really hope someone will answer it.

One patient did not have any fluids ordered. There was a new antibiotic to be hung, so my instructor had me piggyback it into a line connected to normal saline that was hanging there that had been d/c'd at some point earlier. So my question is, why did we do that instead of letting it run as a main line?

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

It was a method that some nurses use to auto-flush the IV site after the antibiotic has run in, thus saving the IV site.

Technically though, the antibiotic should've run by itself and then the site flushed manually with a separate flush, because the IV fluids were DC'd.

[GGCC]

My understanding is that this is a good way to do it as long as you're not dealing with a renal patient or any patient who is fluid restricted.

The medline usually runs at 5 or 10 ml/hr.

The big advantage is that you can prime your tubing with NS and you don't risk losing any antibiotic into the trash or floor (or where ever you aim the end) trying to get all your air bubbles out. Does that make sense?

[cheyne stokes]

Okay, thanks. That does make sense. In theory we weren't taught to do it this way, so I need to talk to my instructor to see if we are supposed to always do it this way.

Thanks for your responses.

[queenjean]

If the fluids and tubing aren't out of date, it saves the pt money to hang it like your instructor said. If you have to pull a whole new set (instead of using the tubing that was already there), it's more expensive for the pt.

[Fiona59]

If the fluids and tubing aren't out of date, it saves the pt money to hang it like your instructor said. If you have to pull a whole new set (instead of using the tubing that was already there), it's more expensive for the pt.

When I read statements like that, I'm so glad I'm in Canada where we don't worry about charging the patient for every med, dsg, iv line. Yes, we pay taxes and premiums for our healthcare but I'd hate to think that I had to price every item.

[queenjean]

Regardless of where you work or how things are billed, SOMEONE is paying for it. If you are billing it to the government, then YOU are paying for it by higher taxes. Wastefulness is never a good idea, and it always costs someone in the end.

[beckyrmm]

Also, you have to think about how long that bag of NS had been sitting there before she used it. It's not a good thing if it was an old bag. Risk of infection.

[Fiona59]

That's why we date our bags and lines.