IV push rates

Utilize your IV medication book. I always tell my orientees and student nurses on the floor,, Do not ever take anyone's word for administration rate, LOOK IT UP YOURSELF.

I dont know of any laminated cards, but you can always make your own with a 4x6 card. More common meds you learn very quickly anyway so the need for the reference may be short lived.

pharmacy is a great resource too! I call them when I have any med questions...they are usually great about answering anything...(depending on the pharmacist of the day:)

I don't know of a card system for IV push meds but I use 2006 Intravenous Medications. Authors: Betty L. Gahart and Adrienne Nazareno. Publisher: Elsevier Mosby. It is the size of a regular drug book but it is spiral bound and very informative. It is also easy for a quick glance and easy to follow. The Nursing Spectrum Drug Handbook does a good job of describing drugs for IV push, rate and dose.

We use that IV book, too. Even though ours was a "floor copy" I wasn't afraid to highlight some of the most important facts about meds- rate, fluid compat., tubing compat. No one else ever complained, not sure if it was because that was the info they wanted, too or if I was the only one to use the book, LOL. I also used mini post-its to flag pages of commonly looked up meds- not the ones I gave every shift or weekly that I knew very well, but the ones I could count on giving every few months. Ex- our unit used SoluMedrol all the time, but Decadron was given to about 10 kids a year so I always had to look it up.

I also use the Gahart book.

We use Micromedex on-line at my facility. Always look them up and use the reference used by your own facility or P&P from your facility. Make your own card--you will remember the info better if you do!

I don't know of a card system for IV push meds but I use 2006 Intravenous Medications. Authors: Betty L. Gahart and Adrienne Nazareno. Publisher: Elsevier Mosby. It is the size of a regular drug book but it is spiral bound and very informative. It is also easy for a quick glance and easy to follow.

We have this book on the floor for our use. Before I gave the meds often enough to remember the information, I made an index card and taped it to my clipboard. I included the dilution info for the med along with the rate of admin.

Our Med-Select instructs you on how to dilute the medication and how fast to push it (i.e. pepcid....it states to dilute in 5ml of saline and push over 2 minutes).

Melanie = )