Infusion Pump - I feel stupid!

Nurses Medications

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I'm a new grad. Most of the piggyback meds to run in the infusion pump have the rate on them. I had one yesterday that did not. I feel stupid because I know I am making it more difficult than it should be. I had Levoquin 150mL to infuse for 90 minutes. What would the rate be? Thanks so much!

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

150mL/90min * 60min/1hr = 100mL/hr

OR

90min=1.5hr

150mL/1.5hr = 100mL/hr

This is some really important stuff.

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Thank you. Brain fart!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.

Do you know how to cross multiply? If not, I suggest you learn.

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Ah! There's the unfortunate (but expected) sarcasm from "that nurse" that I choose not to be like!

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Its ok to have brain farts from time to time! What worries me a little is that you are asking this question the day after it happened at work. How did you safely administer the medication if you weren't sure on the rate?

A couple of things...

Your employer must have an IV drug guide, make sure you look up the meds when you aren't familiar. Know how many mg/hr is safe to infuse. Its ok to not know something but make sure you find out, its better to ask a question that you think is "dumb" than to not ask and make a mistake.

Know how to calculate drip rates. Something tells me you don't feel super comfortable with calculating them if your brain fart lasted ling enough for you to post the question. That is ok. We all have things that we aren't great at but if you are working on a unit where you have to hang IV meds this is something you should work on. My hospital has "smart pumps". They really aren't smart they just have meds programmed in to them with set rates and med concentrations. I still need to know what rate is safe, the pump could be programmed wrong.

Take Vancomycin 1Gm for example. It would be important for you to know that 1Gm should not infuse at a rate faster than 10mg/min. Rapid infusing increases the risk of serious things such as red man syndrome. If a bag of Vanco 1Gm/100ml came up from the pharmacy with directions to infuse over 30min it would be important for you to know that is wrong. Same thing with Potassium and Magnesium there are rates that are safe and rates that are not depending on the circumstances. All these meds are things I give on an almost daily basis where I work, so I know the rates, what is safe and what to look out for. You can bet if I go to hang something I am not familiar with that I quickly look it up. Even if you think you are good at math you should have a double check system for yourself.

Good luck!

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Specializes in Family Nurse Practitioner.
Ah! There's the unfortunate (but expected) sarcasm from "that nurse" that I choose not to be like!

Actually, if you knew me, you would want to be a nurse like me. I'm actually a good nurse (so say my colleagues and student I precepted) and everyone likes me. But you should learn how to cross multiply.

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Thanks for the info. No worries! This occured at the end of a stressful shift and I had a brain fart. I contacted pharmacy and they walked me through it. I also followed up with my preceptor. I am a super cautious nurse and would never do anything (intentionally) to harm my patients. Merry Christmas!

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Thanks. It's called a brain fart. Not a mistake. Not incompetent. I'm human....just as you are. My background is actually in finance - as nursing is a second career for me, so cross multiplying is not an issue. This forum is a means for helping others. I reached out for advice because everyone has various ways of doing things. We learn so much from the "good" and "bad".....so THANK YOU!

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Specializes in Vascular Access.

Just remember the formula to figure out flow rate, or what you need to set your pump to. The formula is: Volume of solution that the drug is diluted in, divided by time in HOURS (not minutes) so, 150 / 1.5 = 100mls/hr.

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Always double check!!! Vanco over 1 gram is infused over 90 minutes, however if it is under 1 gram it can be run in 60 minutes. I always reference Micromedix or Davis Drug Guide apps if I am not sure.

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Ah! There's the unfortunate (but expected) sarcasm from "that nurse" that I choose not to be like!

Nobody is belittling you here, but this is basic, fundamental math which every nurse should have a grasp on before even starting nursing school. I totally understand what it's like to have a brain fart, but you can imagine that it sounds scary when someone asks about something after the fact as opposed to before they do it. Know your resources (charge nurse, pharmacy, online drug guides, etc...) and, more importantly, use them!

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