Administering Your IV Infusion

Your IV medications are ordered to be given a certain way by your physician.

Sometimes, medication is ordered to be infused with an elastomeric pump. If this is your situation, please see the instructions specific to this device.

In some situations, the IV may be controlled by the roller clamp. Just adjust the clamp up to run the fluid in faster and down to slow it down. You will notice the droplets in the drip chamber of the tubing will indicate the speed at which the infusion is running.  Please see the “Drip Rate Calculator” to determine the number of drops per minute you need to infuse your medication at the prescribed rate.

Certain medications may be given by attaching a syringe to your line and pushing the medication in very slowly. You may have received specific information, depending on the medication you are receiving, related to the time it should take you to push it in.

Some patients may have a flow control device in their IV tubing that allows the fluid or medication to run in at a prescribed rate. This allows you to “dial in” the speed at which the infusion will drip.

  1. administrating-your-iv-001You will line up the blue line with the rate at which the infusion should flow. This picture show the device turned to the “off” position.
  2. administrating-your-iv-002This picture illustrates the device turned to 125. This means that your infusion will flow at a rate of 125ml per hour.
  3. administrating-your-iv-003This picture shows the device turned to “open.” This setting would typically be used to flush or prime the line. You will see the fluid running quickly in the drip chamber.