Piggy Back IV order with no fluid order?

[Fruit Sucker]

I have a question, and please bear with me as I'm a student. I had a patient who had a PB order, but no order for fluids. My instructor asked if I was ready to give the med, and I said, "I can't give this, because there's not an order for fluids. What do I do?" Well, she got really frustrated with me and said when this happens, you just go get a 50mL bag of NS, run it at KVO, and give the PB med with it. I said, how can I do that when there's no order for the NS? She just said, nurses do this all the time, trust me.

I'm confused. My understanding is that fluids can't be given without an order. I don't like breaking rules because other people "do it all the time." Please give me some guidance.

[MunoRN, RN]

I would assume nobody needs a specific Physician order to use IV tubing, so I'm not sure why you would need an order for the fluid required to prime and flush the tubing since they are both technically classified as devices. The fluid, which is for the maintenance of the device, isn't considered a drug when it's used for that purpose, and no order is necessary at least according to regulatory requirements.