Hanging meds and fluids

ThisnThat said:

Hi. On an alaris pump, when a secondary is hung, does it run by itself? Does the primary stop infusing and only fluids from the secondary bag infuse? ...

If the bags have been properly hung, then yes, the secondary bag will "run by itself" until empty.  After the secondary bag is empty, fluid will start infusing from the primary bag.  For this to work, the primary bag has to be hung lower than the secondary bag, and you have to verify the the secondary bag is dripping.

ThisnThat said:

... For example, I've seen nurses hang mag as a secondary and others hang it as a primary, and I am not sure what the difference is.

Although small volume intermittent infusions should always be hung as a secondary  to ensure that the patient receives the entire volume, some nurses continue to hand them as a primary.  They tend do this with patients that don't have IV fluids infusing or don't have an order for a carrier fluid and believe it's easier than setting up a primary/secondary set.

Hidden Medication Loss When Using a Primary Administration Set for Small-Volume Intermittent Infusions

chare said:

If the bags have been properly hung, then yes, the secondary bag will "run by itself" until empty.  After the secondary bag is empty, fluid will start infusing from the primary bag.  For this to work, the primary bag has to be hung lower than the secondary bag, and you have to verify the the secondary bag is dripping.

Although small volume intermittent infusions should always be hung as a secondary  to ensure that the patient receives the entire volume, some nurses continue to hand them as a primary.  They tend do this with patients that don't have IV fluids infusing or don't have an order for a carrier fluid and believe it's easier than setting up a primary/secondary set.

Hidden Medication Loss When Using a Primary Administration Set for Small-Volume Intermittent Infusions

Thank you. If a specific dosage is ordered, makes sense to give that dose. I will remember this, thank you thank you