Perhaps I am overthinking this, but alas...
I've recently noticed on my floor patients who are not receiving continuous IV fluids having IV antibiotics run as the primary on the pump. No small bag of normal saline is being used as the primary with the antibiotic as the piggyback. There is approximately 13mL in the distal primary tubing. This means that a patient who is receiving a 50 mL antibiotic is missing out on almost a third of their dose left behind in the tubing...right?
I am relatively new at my facility and am unsure how to go about this. If I see an antibiotic being run as the primary, I will swap the old abx bag for a 100 mL bag of NSS and run the abx as the secondary.
Should I send an email to my manager? I can't find a policy regarding this.