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Discussion

IV count?

Not asking you to do the homework, just asking for help clarifying what they are asking. It has a picture of an almost empty IV bag. The fluid is below the last marked line. It asks us to determine how much fluid is left in the bag. Otherwise "referred to as the IV count". Am I just looking at this and estimating?

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    Huh? Never heard of that. The only thing I can determine from that info is that it is

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    • Experts

    Is it on a pump? You could check and see how much of the bag was infused. Otherwise you would just be guessing how much is in the bag.You could pour it into a graduated container and measure it if you really needed to know. Odd question.

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    • Author

    I thought the question was odd as well. We aren't allowed to use pumps yet. The rationale is that time taping and figuring all of this stuff out manually has to be drilled into our brains just in case something happens at a facility and we lose pump access. I estimated what I thought would be left at 50 mL since that's about how far it was from the last numbered line.

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    Well if you lost pump access you could just measure it in a container. I would think most people would figure that out.That's not a very challenging question.

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    • Author

    True, but as it is with most of these questions, common sense is not an option. Haha.

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    That would req wasting the liquid.

    Well if you lost pump access you could just measure it in a container. I would think most people would figure that out.That's not a very challenging question.
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    • Experts
    That would req wasting the liquid.

    Well yeah it would. I assume they were taking the bag down.It really is a silly question.

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    I am thinking the question was not put well. I think the term should be "left to infuse".

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    I want to say that there is always 50ml more in the bag than what the label says there is.

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    • Experts

    Back in the old days, images?q=tbn:ANd9GcRdsqKLXpKKkd56e4_6OhVxkssE7L-hul5e2oyrDDLYnBqR1xZUFw, we had to "Estimate" "What was up" or left in the bag at shift change.

    You would look at the bag that was hanging grab and gently pull at the two vertical "side" seams of the IV bag and visually inspect how much was left. We used tape to "label" our bags so we could keep "track" of the rate. So if it was a q8 hour bag and hung at 0800....there would be times at where the bag "should be" at 0800; 1000; 1200; 1400; 1600....when the bag "should be complete".

    Not the most accurate but it was the best we had. We would "check" the rate of the IV with our watches and visually every 1-2 hours when we rounded. We would always prepare the next bag when the IV had about 200 cc left because you just never knew how fast they would go in at the change of a hand position.

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    Do you have any other information? Such as how long the bag has been hanging and the rate of the infusion? If its just a picture of a bag, it's a very strange question to ask.

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    • Author

    Nope. We had no other information. I guestimated and got the answer right so I suppose I did something right.

    And Esme, we are learning time taping now too. We are expected to time tape any IVs we have hanging. Their theory is, in the case of a disaster, be it multiple ER victims and not enough pumps or a natural disaster wiping out all non essential electricity, we will have to know how to hang a bag via drop factor.

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