Description
By the end of the course, candidates will be able to:
- Discuss legal and professional responsibilities associated with administering intravenous (IV) drugs in line with national guidance
- Follow procedures for gaining consent and correct documentation
- Describe relevant anatomy and physiology
- List indications for giving IV drugs
- Outline different IV access methods and associated equipment
- Understand the need to manage associated risk
- Describe the principles for safely preparing and administrating IV medicines including drug calculation practice
- List pharmaceutical aspects involved with IV drug administration
- Explain correct procedures for minimising infection
- Identify potential problems, describing how to prevent them and what necessary interventions are required should they occur
Course content
- Legal and professional considerations and responsibilities
- Consent for care and treatment
- Importance of policies and procedures
- What is IV therapy?
- Indications for IV drug administration
- Risks of IV drug administration
- Related anatomy and physiology
- Vascular access device options
- Peripheral venous access device (PVAD)
- Central venous catheter device (CVC)
- Principles of safe administration of medicines
- Errors and their prevention
- Principles of calculating
- Practice at calculating required drugs
- Pharmaceutical aspects of IV drug administration
- Types of preparation
- Precipitation
- Half life
- Binding to plastic
- Displacement value
- Layering
- Drug incompatibilities
- Administration
- Continuous infusion
- Intermittent infusion
- Bolus
- Flushes
- Cannula checks
- ANTT
- Speed of infusion
- Potential complications
- Phlebitis
- Infiltration
- Extravasation
- Thrombosis
- Anaphylaxis
