JustAddCoffee

Thanks for the article link. I've never seen a sterile NS flush that didn't come prepackaged in plastic. I would NEVER use one that I hadn't taken out of the wrapper myself, so I don't see myself accidentally giving a med that someone else had drawn up. If I'm going to be giving more that one med by IVP I label the the syringe once I've pulled them up so I don't mix them up. I always dilute my IVP in a 10 ml NS flush. If I have a 2mg/ml vial of Dilaudid but am only giving 1mg, then I use an empty 3ml syringe to pull up the 2ml, waste half of it, and then pull it into a 10ml NS flush with a blunt tip needle to dilute. If the patient has compatible fluids with no potent meds in it I usually don't do a pre-flush. I give the dilaudid slowly, and follow with a slow NS flush. Why slow? Well, a good portion of the dilaudid is still in the tubing. I'm not going to slowly give the dilaudid only to slam the last bit of it with a fast push. If the patient has been INT'd I flush with NS, give the med slowly, and flush again.