Unlike the “Forever” stamps from the US Post Office, we should not keep using multi-dose vials until the vial is empty. Multi-dose vials are to be discarded 28 days after first use, unless the manufacturer specifies otherwise (shorter or longer), according to the Joint Commission Medication Management Standards FAQ about multi-dose vials. So you say,…
I mean, my infusion nurse blog is a year old this month!!! Gosh, it’s hard to believe a year has gone by…it’s my first blog-o-versary!! My first blog was posted on August 18, a week after my blog site, infusion nurse blog was created. My goal was to share information about infusion therapy, vascular access,…
Last Friday, a patient scheduled to receive his chemotherapy walked into our infusion center with his wife, both wearing t-shirts with this printed on the front. I noticed but didn’t pay much attention until his treatment started. I was a bit slow on the uptake that morning and the patient was kind enough to explain…
…the devices that allow connections of infusion sets and catheter hubs. Unless you have been living under a rock, no one should be using needles to make that connection, thus the term…needleless connectors. In a previous blog, I posted about an FDA Alert on Positive Displacement Needleless Connectors . After I did, I realized that…
Yet another FDA Alert – this time on positive displacement needleless connectors – a device all nurses are very familiar with and use on a daily basis on patients requiring infusion therapy. The FDA has received three reports of death associated with BSI and positive displacement needleless connectors. Infection control authorities are also concerned about…
Nimodipine is a medication intended to be given in a critical care setting to treat neurologic complications from subarachnoid hemorrhage and is only available as a capsule. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is alerting healthcare professionals that nimodipine capsules should be given ONLY by mouth or through a feeding tube (nasogastric tube). This…
What people (colleagues or patients) say to an infusion nurse…. The classic……“Will I be IV certified after I take an on-line IV course”? The confused….In a doctor’s office, a medical assistant greets me…“Hi, I’m Dr. So and So’s nurse…” The proud but mis-informed…A nurse after starting a peripheral IV – “I finally got the vein…
…as in “Resources and References” in infusion therapy? Ok, I know what you’re thinking… with the internet, who needs to have a home library of references and resources? One would just “google” any and all questions/references/resources. Well, I may be one of the few left who still have reference books and resources in my office…
On July 13, 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required Baxter Healthcare Corp. to take specific steps to carry out the April 2010 recall of all Colleague Volumetric Infusion Pumps (CVIP) and to provide customers with a refund, a replacement pump, or lease termination. According to the FDA, it is requiring Baxter to provide…
Today was a great day, not only because its Friday but because I had the great opportunity to participate in a discussion (podcast) on Insights in Nursing regarding the departure of a long time medical blogger from blogging. As a new blogger, I didn’t have much interaction with Mark Glencorse but I have read a…
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