Forum topic

Many manufactor are offering blood sets with upper and lower y sites. The popensity for a medication administration into a blood set is increased and poses as a high risk to the safety of the patient. Example: You have a patient with one access site, maybe because he/she are hard sticks; however this patient is getting a 3 hr blood transfusion because the patient has poor renal function and or the patient has CHF(so you infuse slower with lasix doses). Now say that the patient has IV push mediciation due, the nurse has 5 other patients with medication coming due as well. In an effort to meet his/her medication times the RN IV pushes the medication into the lower Y site or the injection site located on the cassette of the blood set, or piggyback from the upper y site medication incompatibility can definitely occur here and I believe this scenerio can really happen.