Giving Medication Through An IV Set Port

Port above safety clamp
1. Slow intermittent infusions the pump must regulate
  1. Piggybacks
    1. Antibiotics
    2. Anti-emetic infusions
    3. Electrolytes
    4. Volumes of typically 100-250 mL
Port below safety clamp (middle port)
1. Intermittent infusions that can be given via gravity
2. Not regulated by the IV pump
  1. Albumin
  2. Certain blood products
    1. Check facility policy
Port closest to the patient
1. IV medications that are delivered directly to the patient in small doses
  1. Pain medications
  2. Anti-emetics
  3. Blood pressure medications
Pro-Tips
1. Think Safety
  1. Any drug that needs to be tightly regulated should go through a pump
  2. For titrated drugs, they should have a dedicated channel
2. Be a steward of your patient
  1. Don’t waste product
    1. If a medication can be safely given via gravity, then use the middle port
    2. Don’t set up an entire line if the medication can be piggybacked
    3. Don’t set up an entire line if a medication dosage amount should be given slowly through another port
      1. Example: Metoprolol
        
        Should be given in the IV port closest to the patient
        
        Requires constant assessment during administration
        
        Don’t infuse through a piggyback

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Transcript

Okay guys, in this lesson we’re going to take a really close look at all of the IV ports on our primary set. Now some primary sets come with two ports or Y sites or they’ll come with three. This particular one has two and we’re going to talk about two but we’re also going to talk about the third really intensely. It’s really important to note that these ports have a really specific function. What they do is allow medications or different devices like other IV lines to be hooked up to them and to have infusions or medications given to them. So it’s like a lure lock system you put it on and you can give it. If this, if this is a medication, I can just give it directly into the line. Now the important thing that you need to realize that this safety clamp is a safety feature and it runs through the pump.

So when you’re looking at medications that go through this top port or Y site, you have to think about how it’s used. If it’s going to go in here, it needs to be regulated by the pump. So if you have a medication that needs to be regulated by a pump, so these are things like antibiotics or even electrolytes, you have to pro, you have to program it inside this module, then it needs to go in this port. It’s so important you will hang a piggyback, but that’s what that particular port is used for. Now in this set is one that goes closest to the patient. This is where you can have some intermittent infusions going, but it’s really, really helpful if you have to give your patient IV push medication like Zofran or even pain medications like Dilaudid or morphine. This is a great, because it’s so close to the patient, it’s important to use this port specifically for these medications because you can give it and then flush.

What you don’t want to do is put it higher in the line and then if the line goes bad, you have all of the medication that was wasted and then you have to go back and go get more narcotics or you have to waste that medication and then the patient doesn’t get it and you don’t know exactly how much they got. So it’s always best to go closest to the patient and you can give just a flush so you know how much went down. Now the third port that’s really important, and it’s not on this line, but it is important for you to know about if you have it is used for intermittent medications that are not regulated by the pump. That’s the biggest difference between the one above the pump and below the pump. If it’s got to be regulated by the pump.

If it’s a drip and antibiotics, something like that has to go above the pump. But if it can go to gravity or it can be regulated by its own little flow meter, that will work great in the middle. Why site? So just know that if you have a medication that can go in the line, it’s compatible with all of the other drugs, just make sure that you’re aware that that middle one can actually be used for gravitational medications or medications that have their own little flow meter. Now a couple of pro tips. If you have a medication that needs to be titrated, it’s best put on its own dedicated channel. Titrating drips on a secondary kind of as a piggyback is not necessarily the safest thing and a lot of times isn’t even allowed by their pumps. So if you have a medication that needs to be titrated, especially for those high acuity patients, put them in their own specific channel. They second thing that I want to talk to you about is being a steward of your patient. Just because we have medication supplies readily at our disposal doesn’t mean that they’re not expensive and that they don’t impact your patient. Always be cautious of that. If a medication can be piggybacked, don’t dedicate an entire channel or an entire line instead of supplies to that.

Giving Medication Through An IV Set Port

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