meds that you can't mix?

[northmississippi]

What are some common meds you may see on the medsurg floor, or even the nursing home that you can't let mix together, including IV drugs.?? THanks.

[AmyRN303, BSN, RN]

You can, but ONLY if they are both dilute (that is, drips). If you look it up in Tressel, it lists as "variable". One advantage of working in a large medical center is having 24x7 clinical pharm support.

This was a matter of contention between some of our nurses.

I learned this last night with a protonix drip I had on a patient receiving another med. having 24/7 pharm support is very helpful!

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

This was a matter of contention between some of our nurses.

What was the issue amongst the nurses? Just curious... :)

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

Cipro and flagyl are compatible.

What was the issue amongst the nurses? Just curious... :)

Some asserting that the two could not be mixed while others were asserting that they could.

[icuRNmaggie, BSN, RN]

I received a patient recently whose IV bags looked just like the white flakes in a snow globe.

She had Cipro infusing as an IV piggyback to her heparin drip.

Please Please check compatibility every single time.

Also, do not piggyback antibiotics to any IV drip.

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

You can, but ONLY if they are both dilute (that is, drips). If you look it up in Tressel, it lists as "variable". One advantage of working in a large medical center is having 24x7 clinical pharm support.

This was a matter of contention between some of our nurses.

Ahh, the old inconclusive results. We have one 3 color compatibility system (one of a number of pharmacology resources plus 24/7 pharmacy) that goes:

Green - compatible

Red - incompatible

Purple - conflicting data. May be OK, may become a reportable event.

I don't mix purples.

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

I received a patient recently whose IV bags looked just like the white flakes in a snow globe.

She had Cipro infusing as an IV piggyback to her heparin drip.

Please Please check compatibility every single time.

Also, do not piggyback antibiotics to any IV drip.

Bad.. Very bad.. my facility'spolicy is that heparin gets its own line. Can't even be y-lined to iv fluids.

[NanikRN]

Yesterday i recieved a patient with a hep drip with potassium y-lined into it. Hep was going at 12 ml/hr. And k+ was going at 50.

Off-going nurse assured me that hep and k are compatable but aside from that-- won't the k be moving the hep in at a faster rate ( the k rate of 50/ hr) below port where they're y-lined?

I stopped k and started a second line.

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

We all know that diazepam (Valium) doesn't play nice with just about anyone, and neither does phenytoin (Dilantin).

[nurseprnRN, BSN, RN]

Yesterday i recieved a patient with a hep drip with potassium y-lined into it. Hep was going at 12 ml/hr. And k+ was going at 50.

Off-going nurse assured me that hep and k are compatable but aside from that-- won't the k be moving the hep in at a faster rate ( the k rate of 50/ hr) below port where they're y-lined?

I stopped k and started a second line.

The heparin will be entering the patient at 12cc/hr regardless of what else is piggybacked into the line or in what position. It will still be running at 12cc/hr. Think: how would it be less? Does a piggyback affect the pump rate or the amount of fluid that the pump delivers? No, of course not. Other than an initial little flush when the K is first plugged in (and this would be a negligent amount and not clinically significant given the time involved, in terms of units/hour), the heparin goes at the rate the heparin goes.

Same thing goes for the potassium-- it's going into the patient at 50cc/hour, isn't it? Total IV rate is 62cc/hr-- 12 of that being heparin and 50 being K+.

[BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN]

Scares me that your employer does not have a ready reference for this type of information. Even our medication dispenser has a drug reference program. I recommend you refer to the Institute of Safe Medication Practices if you have no other helps.

My money says that OP is a student and this is a homework assignment.