concurrent vs. piggyback

[purplemana]

though this sounds stupid but concurrent means both the secondary and primary are running at the same time

and piggyback means the secondary runs first then when its all done the primary takes over. the pump that we use in clinicals is an abbott plum a

one more thing is it possible to run piperacillin @ 100ml/hr concurrent with NSS w/ Kcl 20meq

please be mindful of the comments

thanks

[Vespertinas]

If it's "concurrent" then yes, they're running together. But then that makes the piggyback no longer actually a "piggyback". You probably need to Y-port. That means that the medication which you normally would have piggybacked instead gets its own primary tubing, inserted into a 2nd channel, and connected to the tubing of the 1st bag below the level of the pump instead of below.

As for running IV medications together, every facility will have a resource where you can check the compatibility of 2 medications. This may be in the form of a reference chart the size of a poster or a paid online program, for example.

Hope that helps!

[MN-Nurse, ASN, RN]

What's more important is why you would choose concurrent vs piggyback.

If you are running Zosyn (Piperacillin/tazobactam), it runs at 25/hr (100ml) at the facility you mention.

Use the micromedex link in Excellian to check the compatibility and next time for goodness sake ask your preceptor or instructor and not random yahoos on the internet.