IV bags with foil

[Jackie Saunders]

Do you have to remove the foil before spiking or can you spike thru the foil cover?

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

Tamper resistant foil seals are used to cover IV bag medication ports after a medication has been added by pharmacy.  IV tubing spike port is usually separate, if covered by foil tab remove it.  In years passed, foil covered entire IV bag for light sensitive IV solutions, later amber plastic bag cover utilized.

[Okami_CCRN, BSN, RN]

As NRSKaren mentioned, medications that are compounded by pharmacy will often have a small foil covering the medication inject port for tamper proofing. 

If there is a foil covering the IV spike port, you must remove it before spiking. 

 

As seen in this image, the medication has foil covering the spike port, you should never spike through this, always remove it.