Do other agencies, particularly hospitals who see pediatric/neonatal patients, use a "carrier", which is IV fluid run simultanously with medication infusions? For example, if melrinone is running at 1.2 mls. an hour, do you also run IV fluid through the same line to equal some rate, such at 0.8 of IV fluid so the total per hour is 2mls.
We did not do this at my prior hospital and I can find no evidence, but docs here where I currently work surmise that the carrier helps "deliver" the dose better, esp. if there is a dosage change. I find that hard to believe, because the pumps now pump in such small accurate increments, that I would think a carrier would not be needed for drug infusion accuracy, only if you want a specific rate to keep line patency...again, a topic with not much evidence and dependent on line size, length, etc.
We are forming a group to look at this practice and I am hunting for evidence.
Thanks,
Anne Marie
Anne Marie Frey, BSN, RN, CRNI, Vascular Access Service, The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia