Infusion pump or manual?

suga_junkie, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2015

At my hospital, yes, we always use pumps to infuse antibiotics. You definitely add the 20ml you reconstituted the antibiotic with to the pump or there'll still be 20ml left in the bag when it finishes infusing!

IVRUS, BSN, RN · Jan 14, 2015

Just a quick question regarding the use of IV pumps...i'm a new grad and during my time in ED I did all IV infusions without the use of a pump....I'm now about to start on a ward which uses pumps. If I make up an antibiotic which is to be infused over 20mins do I really need to use a pump? Also, if I reconstitute an antibiotic with 20mL saline, does that extra 20mL need to be programmed into the pump when I hang the bag to ensure all the fluid is administered? Hope that makes sense

I understand that in an ER setting, pumps may not be used for many drugs as there would be too much time spend cleaning, preparing the pump to get ready for the next pt, but in your setting now, Pumps are a safe way to administer medications, but you want to make sure that if you do NOT have a mainline fluid, that that medication is only complete when the bag is EMPTY. There still should be fluid in the drip chamber, but a complete dose means that the bag has nothing left in it. Now, as far as your other question, some things absolutely MUST be infused with an electronic device. You want to avoid gravity infusions ideally with those solutions that are LVP (Large Volume Parenterals) as you should worry about the increase in FVE. And, giving medications without a pump, and without knowing actually infusion rates, can result in Speed Shock, or in the case of Vancomycin, Redneck of redman syndrome.

thenightnurse456 · Jan 26, 2015

Pumps for everything. Much safer and precise.

GenericUnicorn · Jun 27, 2015

Everything is done by pump except in special circumstances, like running platelets wide open or emergent saline boluses for example. Not sure if it's the same everywhere, but I haven't had to reconstitute any IV medications (for infusions, not quick IV push) in quite some time. Seems like everything is mixed in pharmacy nowadays, and each med has a label telling you exactly how much solution is in the bag to you can tell the pump down to the last drop what to infuse.