Just a quick question about back priming a secondary bag from fluid in the primary. Is this practice reccommended by INS? How is it done? Is it only used when the secondary meds are compatible with each other and the primary fluid?
The new standards now in the mail will include backpriming as a means to adhere to the standard on primary and secondary continuous sets. The main concern is compatiblity between the piggybacked meds and any meds that have been added to the primary fluid such as vitamins, electrolytes, etc. Some hospitals use a bag of saline as the carrier fluid for all piggybacks. Compatibility between the secondary meds is not usually an issue because the primary fluid flushes all air and meds from the secondary set back into the empty fluid container from the previous dose. Lynn
The new standards now in the mail will include backpriming as a means to adhere to the standard on primary and secondary continuous sets. The main concern is compatiblity between the piggybacked meds and any meds that have been added to the primary fluid such as vitamins, electrolytes, etc. Some hospitals use a bag of saline as the carrier fluid for all piggybacks. Compatibility between the secondary meds is not usually an issue because the primary fluid flushes all air and meds from the secondary set back into the empty fluid container from the previous dose. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861