Can anybody who has experience with patients with PFOs (patent foramen ovale) tell me what filter you use for IV fluids, meds, etc?
Also, how do you keep the correct filter in place, so that nursing staff isn't removing the filter when they should be leaving it on the IV device?
If anybody has any educational info on this subject, I'd love to have it, or be able to access it.
Thanks,
Carol Medico RN, CRNI, VA-BC
A 0.22 micron filter which can be an integral part of the IV set or added on to the set. This type of filter is what is always used for all fluids except 3-in-1 parenteral nutrition where protein, carbs, and fats are mixed in the same container. Fat requires the use of a 1.2 micron filter along with the lipid based medications like some Amphotericin formualtions. Why are the filters being removed? I would start by figuring out why the nruses are removing them. Chances are they are no satisfied with an infusion rates that is slowing down or a pump beeping occlusion. This requires education that this means the filter is doing its job! This is a good thing, not a bad thing. The filter is trapping all those particulate matter than would otherwise end up in the lungs blocking blood flow through small arterioles and capillaries. Read my chapter on anatomy in the INS textbook tok show the size of these small vessels and then compare this to the size of particualtes in fluids. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861
A 0.22 micron filter which can be an integral part of the IV set or added on to the set. This type of filter is what is always used for all fluids except 3-in-1 parenteral nutrition where protein, carbs, and fats are mixed in the same container. Fat requires the use of a 1.2 micron filter along with the lipid based medications like some Amphotericin formualtions. Why are the filters being removed? I would start by figuring out why the nruses are removing them. Chances are they are no satisfied with an infusion rates that is slowing down or a pump beeping occlusion. This requires education that this means the filter is doing its job! This is a good thing, not a bad thing. The filter is trapping all those particulate matter than would otherwise end up in the lungs blocking blood flow through small arterioles and capillaries. Read my chapter on anatomy in the INS textbook tok show the size of these small vessels and then compare this to the size of particualtes in fluids. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861