Do you mix your own pit?

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 25, 2014

Yes, at every facility I've worked at, we've added our own pit.

VeniVidiVici · Oct 25, 2014

Ours comes mixed already but sometimes if we are in a rush and we run out of room temp bags we have to mix it ourselves.

dariah · Oct 26, 2014

Mine always come mixed from the pharmacy or manufacturer. If we run out is the only time I've had to mix my own.

Mr Midwife, BSN, RN · Oct 26, 2014

In the UK every unit I've worked in we mix our own Oxytocin. For Labour and Induction we use 40 units made up in the units volume of choice and then titrated to the contractions.

perfexion, ASN, RN · Oct 26, 2014

Interesting. I ask because I'm on a unit now where we are absolutely never allowed to mix our own pit, even though we have 10 unit vialsin the pyxis. I had to wait 3 hours yesterday for the pharmacy to bring up mixed bags of pit. At the last hospital I worked they were also premixed by pharmacy but if we ever ran out (which was rare because pharmacy sent up about 50 bags a shift) we were allowed to mix our own. I almost got written up for attempting to mix my own pit. I was just curious as to what other hospitals did.

Katie71275 · Oct 27, 2014

Ours is premixed by pharmacy. I honestly don't know if there is a policy that we can't mix it or not..guess I should look that up. I've added more Pit to the bag before though with no problem.

Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP · Oct 28, 2014

Premixed in a 30u/500ml bag....only if we run out in the pyxis and it's emergent do we mix our own. When I first started working there we did it all the time.

Calinurse4 · Oct 29, 2014

Premixed 30u/500ml bag. I don't know about mixing our own since I've never had that issue. It's always well stocked on our floor.

klone, MSN, RN · Oct 29, 2014

Is the 30units/500ml then a 2:1 ratio on the pump (ml/hour:mu)? It's been a long time since I've titrated Pit. :)

Wait, that would be a 1:1 ratio, wouldn't it?

SmilingBluEyes · Oct 29, 2014

Mixing pit on the L/D unit where I worked was abolished years ago. The pharmacy mixes it all and brings it up.

KYgirlRN · Nov 19, 2014

Our pitocin bags come pre-mixed from the pharmacy. This is partly intended to decrease the risk of a med error by the RN mixing it, but I think the primary reasoning is because Joint Commission frowns on mixing meds at the bedside, period. Our hospital has made a big push to move meds towards either having something pre-mixed in pharmacy or making it IV push in order to align more closely with Joint Commission's recommendations.