silly question about I&O

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Specializes in corrections.

when you calculate I&O with IVPB shouldnt you substract the about of PB from the main IV? Like you turn the primary IV of when starting the IVPB so its not going in as an input right? I was looking at some I&O problems teacher gave us and I dont understand why they add all the IVs up when technicaly the primary is not going in. Or maybe it is? :uhoh3::bugeyes:

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Specializes in Cardiac.

No, the primary is not going in.

So if you have a primary rate going at 100/hr, and an IVPB going at 50/hr, the intake for that hour will only be the 50 from the piggyback.

On my charting (paper charting) I put a hatch mark for the primary that hour implying that it did not go in.

You are right in your thinking!

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Specializes in SICU.

Some pumps allow the primary and the piggyback to infuse at the same time. So it would depend on the pump used.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

if the piggyback is connected above the one-way valve and the main bag of iv fluid shuts off while the piggyback is infusing, then the fluid in the main bag is not calculated as intake for the time that the piggyback is infusing because the main iv bag is not infusing. however, there are times when the piggyback is connected down near the iv cannula and is infusing along with the main iv bag as well. in that case both the piggyback and main bag of iv fluids are infusing at the same time and both need to be calculated into the i&o. how do you know which is going on? when you are the nurse assigned to the patient in the clinical area you will be the one hanging these piggybacks so you will know. but for these problems in school, on paper, ask your instructor how they want you to reason this out.

also, iv intake of the main iv bag is determined by taking measurements of the amount of fluid in the bag at the beginning and end of the nurse's shift and calculating how much fluid was infused. in the old days before pumps we used to physically mark the bottles and bags when we were ready to report off our shift (that's why they still print the grids on them) and do a little subtraction to calculate our shift i&os for our iv fluids. we used to make a sheet to hand over to the oncoming shift that included all the patients who had ivs infusing, the solution, rate, and how much was left in the bottle.

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Specializes in psych,and detox,and Ltc.

Thanks for the information...............Teacher went over this in clinical yesterday.

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