Help with secondaries

Nurses General Nursing

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Hi! I have a question about secondaries and flow rates. I use an alaris pump. Lets say I have a pt who is getting continuous fluids at 100/h. I'm gonna hang a secondary of lets say Levaquin. Flow rate in alaris pump has it going in at 200/h. I know they wont run simultaneously but can i use the same tubing as the continuous even though the secondary is faster? Or do I need to decrease the rate of the secondary? Or use different channel?

Is their any circumstance that might make me decrease the rate of the secondary that the alaris has programmed in?

Specializes in ICU and Dialysis.

I'm not sure I understand the question.

When you have a secondary IV piggyback, the entire bag will infuse before any of your continuous does. You program the pump by telling it how much is in the secondary bag. So it will infuse X amount at X rate, then go back to the regular rate when it the secondary bag is empty.

You must use the hook to lower the primary bag though. The fluid in a line will infuse from the top of the "water line" down, which is why the secondary has to be hung the highest.

If it's something like potassium, that goes

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