Preparing IV antibiotics : Articles/Internet sites/ videos

Nurses Medications

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Hi everyone,

I am new here.I am a new Nurse and have started my first job on a medical/ surgical ward.I am enjoying it alot. I am having difficulty though with preparing IV antibiotics. I am getting help from senior nurses and i am studying as much as i can about it re the aid of books. But I feel stupid when im preparing Iv antibiotics. It always sprays everywhere and i think the more i worry about it the worse i am getting. For example i was drawing up iv augmentin the other day , you know mixing it with 20mls of h2o. it was going to be administered IV push (under senior nurse supervision) , but as i was preparing it, it just seemed so hard. i just dont get it. The suction/ the air/ the vacuum/ the pressure!!! Has anyone any good articles/ videos that really explain it all. Because the containers are glass when i put water in it to mix it their is all this pressure and it spews everywhere.Where i trained as a student we were never thought this. I have done the IV training last week and am currently doing it under supervision. I want to learn all about it so that i do it correctly without it spewing everywhere.i would LOVE if someone had a really great explanation or helpful tips!!! Any body help?

so i was back to work today and of course i had a patient on 1.2g co amoxiclav. So i went about putting the water in (20mls) very carefully. Of course once 10mls went in, it got very tricky and i was unable to continue pushing the rest of the water in without feeling like it would blow up. the nurse with me did a trick, she put a seperate needle in the top while she put the rest of the water in, she said that this lets the air escape. Im loving nursing except for this. It cant be that hard, why cant i do it? when i tried the needle trick it just splilled everywhere. Im actually good at everything else. but this is getting really annoying...:(

Hi, The trick is you don't put the 20mls into the glass vial. You only put in around 10mls or until you feel the pressure won't let you put in any more water, then stop, leave the drawing up needle in the vial, and shake up the water that's in the vial till it is dissolved, then draw up the mixed antibiotics & water back into the 20ml syringe.

You should be right now :-)

OP are you in the Uk? co amoxiclav. is BAN term #

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