Hi all - I work for a pediatric home infusion company, and we work with small children on milrinone infusions in the home setting. The infusion rates are based on the patient's weight, and for the little ones can be 2 mL/hour or even lower. We have some providers who want to run a carrier solution piggybacked into the line to prevent occlusions, which adds to the complexity of the therapy for the caregivers in the home.
Do any of you have feedback as to how low of a rate you can go to before a carrier is needed to prevent occlusion? We've gone as low as 0.6 mL/hour for KVO, and I'm looking for other people's experiences and possibly research to support going to the providers about the need or lack of need for carrier solutions.
Many thanks!
I am assuming you are using an ambulatory infusion pump. Check with that manufacturer as they have information on their pump, but I know that some go as low as 0.2 mL for situations where antibiotic doses are prepared for 24 h in one bag with ramping up and tapering down on rates between doses. 0.6 mL per hour should not be an issue.
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