Overfill in Antibiotics

[JacobRN]

I program the pump for a 500ml bag mixed with Vancomycin and I've noticed an overfill of possibly 100ml. Do I give the patient this 100ml as well? I can't find much information on this? This is very common as I've noticed overfill on several antibiotics.

[chare]

All commercially available IV fluids are packaged with an overfill.  While it varies between manufacturers, the amount typically varies from 10% to 15% of the labeled volume.

In the scenario you describe, if this was an infusion prepared by your pharmacy, and they didn't remove a volume of IV fluid equal to the volume of the vancomycin, I'm not surprised that the actual volume was ~600 mL.

And yes, for a medication prepared in your pharmacy, the patient needs to receive the entire volume.  If the patient doesn't receive the total volume, he or she isn't receiving the ordered dose of medication.  In your scenario leaving 100 mL, the patient received ~83% of the ordered dose.