Now can we stop using NS?

NPO said:
We carry the NS for the few instances where LR (which was replaced by PlasmaLyte) wouldn't be as beneficial. I believe the only situations I'm aware of would be a severe alkalosis.

For medications we carry D5W. And D10 for those diabetics who need the sugar.
Click to expand...

Thats a lot of NS for that reason...
 
Is plasmalyte compatible with for most/all med administration? Anyone have any idea what the unit cost is?

I don't give large boluses to bleeding patients, I take them to blood (helicopter, local ED, etc). Sometimes septic and anaphylactic patients get large boluses of NS but I don't think that's necessarily proven to be bad? Is the cost worth it to have other solutions for the rare bleeding patient in need of blood yet you can't get to it? I don't know.
 
I recently priced unit costs at retail price from Boundtree, our medical supplier. These approximate costs do not reflect our bulk purchasing agreement discount...

Normal saline: $9/1L bag
LR: $11/1L Bag
PlasmaLyte: $25/1L Bag
 
Tigger said:
Is plasmalyte compatible with for most/all med administration? Anyone have any idea what the unit cost is?

I don't give large boluses to bleeding patients, I take them to blood (helicopter, local ED, etc). Sometimes septic and anaphylactic patients get large boluses of NS but I don't think that's necessarily proven to be bad? Is the cost worth it to have other solutions for the rare bleeding patient in need of blood yet you can't get to it? I don't know.
Click to expand...

There is enough controversy to cause a fair amount of investigation in comparing NS to stuff like plasmalyte et al...I think one thing that isn't controversial is that kidneys don't like a lot of chloride ion. At the end of the day, if you're not giving a lot of fluid (>2L?) it doesn't matter. But in situations of a real acidosis, that require volume, a solution with a pH of 7.4 is better than one with a pH of 5. Managing the acidosis is a lot easier, at least in the short term.
 
I asked a few people why they would use the NS and not the PlasmaLyte, each said "TKO"
 
Tigger said:
Sometimes septic and anaphylactic patients get large boluses of NS but I don't think that's necessarily proven to be bad?
Click to expand...

The Vanderbilt study showed more long term kidney dysfunction with NS over LR in adult sepsis patients. They are also prone to organ dysfunction as part of their disease process so I don't know if the same would apply to anaphylaxis.
 
Tigger said:
Is plasmalyte compatible with for most/all med administration? Anyone have any idea what the unit cost is?

Sometimes septic and anaphylactic patients get large boluses of NS but I don't think that's necessarily proven to be bad? Is the cost worth it to have other solutions for the rare bleeding patient in need of blood yet you can't get to it? I don't know.
Click to expand...

A lot of NS isn't a good choice if you have something else available. If it isn't good for burns, it isn't good for anyone else that needs a lot.
 
E tank said:
There is enough controversy to cause a fair amount of investigation in comparing NS to stuff like plasmalyte et al...I think one thing that isn't controversial is that kidneys don't like a lot of chloride ion. At the end of the day, if you're not giving a lot of fluid (>2L?) it doesn't matter. But in situations of a real acidosis, that require volume, a solution with a pH of 7.4 is better than one with a pH of 5. Managing the acidosis is a lot easier, at least in the short term.
Click to expand...
Where I work, we primarily use NS for our initial resus. What I personally would like to see is us switch fluids from NS to something else like LR or Plasmalyte after the first 2 liters. What I'd also like to see is actually reducing the amount of fluids administered in total. That's not likely to happen any time soon though. They're not too concerned with dumping in 3-4 (or more) liters of NS in a patient that's hypotensive. I suspect they figure if the patient survives, they can just diurese the patient later... and let the ICU deal with that problem.

What do I know, I'm just an RN/Medic...
 
Uclabruin103 said:
No, we don't even start lines of we're not giving anything. And they just took dopamine away from us.... I know, I know, dopamine's efficacy of up for debate, but it was our only pressor.
Click to expand...
What county in California did that?
 
aquabear said:
What county in California did that?
Click to expand...
In Riverside County we took out Dopamine well over 8 years ago. In the past 3 years we have also only been starting IVs on patients that: we give fluids, we give medications, have a high potential of crashing. We no longer start curiosity IVs. Even if we know this patient will get an IV at the ED we do not start it.

ICEMA recently took Dopamine off of their standard equipment list.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top