Do nurses still label their hanging I.V. bags of fluid with the timed masking tape? How do you keep track of how much fluid is being infused in--other than looking at the pump (and the patient)?
I just started a new job in a rehab hospital where hanging I.V. antibiotics and I.V. fluids is done round the clock. Whereas, I only saw patients requiring I.V. fluids maybe once every 3-4 months in my prior job in subacute rehab/ LTC. In that setting, it was easy for me to eyeball that one patient (and check for infiltration) who required those meds, but that was just one patient out of 29 who had a central line in place.
I'm finishing up my BSN and only ONE of my nursing instructors has ever remotely mentioned time-taping the fluid bags to monitor I.V. infusions. I have NOT seen any nurses during my clinical rotations utilizing the time-tape method, either. Then again, I didn't keep track of every single nurse on every single shift. I'm a newbie to the whole long term acute care hospital setting.
In the LTC/Rehab I work for, we were told to tape the bags. The reason is simple, what if the machine malfunctions & pumps the fluid in too fast? With the tape we can gauge at a glance if it's working right or not.
There is no recorded infgo on file anywhere that sjpws pumps malfunctioning and free flowing fluids at all. Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston a few years ago conducteda a study to see iof there was any info about it and when they could nbot find any info they actually did away with the buretrols for peds and went to plain old fashiond iv pump tubing.
Sorry to those of you that think the pumps are perfect. Baxter was recently forced to recall at least 2 of their pumps for malfunctions of different sorts, including fluid going in way too fast. A number of deaths occured.
There were 200,000 Baxter pumps involved.
Yes, time tapes may be redundant, but it is a handy skill to learn for that time when you are in disaster mode and all the pumps are in use.
Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.
If you are using newer volumetric pump technology (especially anti free flow safeguards) often find it unnecessary now. If you are using any type of gravity tubing it is wise to time tape it ,however,never mark the bag directly..only mark the tape.
Kyrshamarks, BSN, RN
1 Article; 631 Posts
There is no recorded infgo on file anywhere that sjpws pumps malfunctioning and free flowing fluids at all. Texas Childrens Hospital in Houston a few years ago conducteda a study to see iof there was any info about it and when they could nbot find any info they actually did away with the buretrols for peds and went to plain old fashiond iv pump tubing.