ririrain142

I was told by our pharmacist that there was a shortage of the 2mg/1ml concentration

I've called off twice for this reason, but only 07-11, that way I get a little sleep and don't leave them without a nurse for the whole day

I gave it for the first time the other day and it scared the crap out of me. The doc refused to change the route to po even though my patient was taking po just fine. Of course, he told us all about how the risk for anaphylactic shock was so high, etc. The pharmacist told me to give it slow IVP (1 mg a minute), so I give the dose, holding my breath.. she was fine. But what do they do next? Change the route to po.

I think it would depend on what the port is being used for. If you have CF and may need to get antibiotics intermittently for the rest of your life, then they would leave it in. If you have a port for chemo, then why keep it after you're in remission and won't need chemo anymore? If you leave the port in, it needs to be flushed with heparin once a month to keep it patent. You wouldn't be able to use a port that hadn't been accessed in years. Personally, I had a port for chemo and then had it removed as soon as treatment was finished, but I disliked my port.

There are no dumb questions. I don't worry about things being compatible, I worry about my saline lock being patent. I flush with 2 cc NS before and after meds. That's plenty to clear the line. So at my hospital, one flush is enough (we used 5cc NS posiflushes). If you are giving a IVPB, you flush the IV tubing with NS and just use enough to flush the saline lock as well, then you don't need to flush to saline lock separately.

I have two miniature dachshunds. They are both litter box trained. I never have to let them outside, which is good because if there is snow on the ground, they refuse to go out anyway. They might be a little spoiled.