I just took the online pharmacology test for my staffing agency. A big percentage of the questions were calculating drip rates.
I learned these 16 years ago in nursing school and have never used them since. But, they always have them on these pharmacology competancy tests. It seems dumb to test on these when there are so many more current topics that they could be covering.
I don't know why nursing schools waste time on archaic information, meanwhile many other, more current areas of nursing remain uncovered. I mean, we spent some time in first semester covering the apothecary system!
I guess its a useful skill to have even though i've been a nurse for 2 years and have only actually calculated the gtt rate a handful of times. I do find it somewhat disconcerting that there are hospitals out there without IV pumps for every patient especially since i'll admit i've grown quite attached to my smart pumps that calculate everything for me within the drug library... It's true that pumps fail from time to time, but I'd crawl into a corner sobbing the day every single pump in my facility failed :)
AHHH, but I have had docs that for some reason or other would write some dosages in grains, leaving me (and pharmacy) to do the conversion. They either wrote it by habit, or were just testing us
That is a great way to make a potential drug error. Its not the Dr.s job to test us.
And then you get a positional IV... Stay and count the darned drip rate until it's exactly right, come back in half an hour and half the bag's gone in... makes you crazy sometimes... *S*
In Hurricane Katrina, with no electricity, there were no pumps. We all need to be aware of how to run an IV with gravity alone. Who knows when and where the next disaster will be.
We had to learn gtt rates in nursing school. Our teacher said that it was good to know in case of a disaster and there was no power...or some kind of disaster that caused you to need to start an IV in the field.
Specializes in Emergency, Case Management, Informatics.
or some kind of disaster that caused you to need to start an IV in the field.
Oops, I totally forgot about running IV's when I'm working EMS. That's a several-times-a-day thing when I'm on the ambulance. We don't have the luxury of IV pumps on the box.
If an EMT-Basic can calculate an IV drip rate, a nurse should be able to. Come on, people. Seriously. There are bigger things to gripe about than learning drip rates in nursing school.
I'm about to do a med test for employment at a new hospital. I'm sure it's general med/surg type stuff but I've been in NICU and .. yeah, no drip rates!
I think it's a good idea to know, and it's just a basic calculation so no big deal--as nurses we SHOULD know basic math at minimum. I don't see though, what in the world IV pumps have to do with ability assess whether or not an IV is patient. That makes no sense to me.
Back a few years at the '99-2000 turn many were predicting that all the electronics were going to go haywire (the nonevent of the century). The hospital system I was at was putting all the clinical employees through training in how to calculate drip rates and titrate meds because so many had never done an IV without a pump. Several of us "oldies" were quietly snickering at the general panic this caused. It's really not rocket science....
It is however good practice for real events such as some pointed out when major disasters such as Katrina put out all the electric and destroy your generator.
I really disagree with you on this one, JLS. By the time I got done with my clinical exam for Excelsior I could have made an IV with a Coke bottle, aquarium tubing, and a paper clip for a clamp.
Should pumps ever go, a disaster hit, power go out and the generator fail, I can get an IV set properly.
It's so frustrating. Really, things change. Yes, you can justify starting a fire by rubbing two sticks together, but really, do you need to start a fire, and on those rare occasions, can't you find a better way?
It's so frustrating. Really, things change. Yes, you can justify starting a fire by rubbing two sticks together, but really, do you need to start a fire, and on those rare occasions, can't you find a better way?
Unless you have some flint and kindling around, what would that better way be?
If the pumps go out, you have to set it to gravity. Period. Why would anyone object to some simple arithmetic?
(amount * drip rate) / time in minutes. What's the big deal?
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ErraticThinker
61 Posts
I guess its a useful skill to have even though i've been a nurse for 2 years and have only actually calculated the gtt rate a handful of times. I do find it somewhat disconcerting that there are hospitals out there without IV pumps for every patient especially since i'll admit i've grown quite attached to my smart pumps that calculate everything for me within the drug library... It's true that pumps fail from time to time, but I'd crawl into a corner sobbing the day every single pump in my facility failed :)
mmmmmm