Is Anyone Here A Nurse?
 

I have an important question about nursing stuff we're learning in school. Any nurses on board?

I am a RN. I believe dakareng is a NP.

What is your question?!

I am so happy there is a nurse on board :D I'm in need of some nursing expertise!

I'm currently doing my clinical rotations and the nursing instructors have been showing us how to administer IV meds. It was a little overwhelming at first, but I'm starting to get the hang of it.

However, I can't seem to grasp how to set the infusion rate if it isn't in the order. For instance, let's say there is an order to infuse a certain med over 20 minutes. How do you know what to set the pump at? Just thinking about it confuses me, and all of the nurses on the floor are so great at figuring it out....I want to be great at it too....

I asked my instructor about it and she gave me this long equation to follow....but none of the nurses seem to use the long equation. By the time I figure it out, it's 10 minutes later...ahhhh!

Can you help?

I am a nurse also. I am a new nurse, but I have yet to see any IV order that is supposed to infuse in 20 minutes. I have see Zosyn in 30 minutes. When I set up Zosyn for 30 minutes, the rate is 200 and the volume to be infused is 100. Sorry if that is more confusing than it is help! But, if you can't figure it out or the pharmacy has not indicated an infusion rate, call them.

When I was a paramedic and the ER doctor gave me a titration (infusion rate), I would make them figure out how many drops per minute. I am sorry, but I was a bit too busy in the back of a moving ambulance to do LONG equations.

As for in the classroom, as long as I kept my units in order I was able to figure out the rate. Man, I love those pumps where you just enter the number of drops per minute.

Good luck with your rotations. I hope everything else is going well!

I've been a nurse for over 8 years now...2 years med-surg and the rest doing ICU/CCU. I love critical care! I know I learned all those equations in school as well, but one thing you'll need to learn once you're out of school is what kind of IV pumps you have. Also pharmacy is supposed to have gtt rates on the label (ours is there anyway unless it's a stat med or out of the code cart). Our Baxter pumps are awesome. It pretty much does all the calculations for you. Most iv antibiotics are over 30, 60, 90 minutes so it's pretty easy to figure. Also some of the loading dose meds such as cardizem run the bolus over about a 10 min. time... again easy to figure. Some of the meds out there have info sheets as to what to bolus/ load prior to starting the gtt...such as aggrastat, integrilin. PM me if you have specific questions...I may be able to help you... especially if it's cardiac related since that's my specialty! ;)