A few weeks ago I was reading a thread on here about pushing a med when a patient already has something infusing into a line and the two aren't compatable. A few people mentioned that, depending what's already infusing into the current IV, you might need to start a new line. I had not really thought about that fact since I haven't been in that situation. Normally I would just stop the infusion, flush the line, push the med, and flush and restart the infusion.
Fastforward to a few nights ago....
I had a patient on a Bumex drip. Their pressure and hr was dropping (bp 80s/50s, hr in the 40s), so the MD wanted to start a Dopamine drip. Ergo, I had to start a second line. Now the patient had 2 med infusing, neither of which I could stop. And then the patient was having severe pain, so the MD ordered Morphine. So there I am, with a patient with 2 IV infusions that can't be stopped and a med I need to push. My first thought was... "This is what they were talking about on allnurses!"
Need more information in order to give you an answer. The fact the other MD and the pharmacist said it was OK should mean it was OK unless this particular MD is such a jerk they are afraid of him/her. The main thing is to understand what is wrong with the patient and the reason the med is ordered and what it might do if it was too high of a dose.
Specializes in Medsurg/ICU, Mental Health, Home Health.
The nurses I work with think I'm so smart because I've learned so much from this board. (They don't know it's from this board...) I'm MedSurg but enjoy reading the other Nursing Specialty boards. I'm American but I've learned tons about nursing in the UK and Oceania. I've only worked five years in a hospital, but I've learned so much about "the way things were." I've also picked up some fun terminology.
I just wish I had found this board when I was in nursing school, not a year after starting work as an RN!
fourthml
13 Posts
Need more information in order to give you an answer. The fact the other MD and the pharmacist said it was OK should mean it was OK unless this particular MD is such a jerk they are afraid of him/her. The main thing is to understand what is wrong with the patient and the reason the med is ordered and what it might do if it was too high of a dose.