i/v fluids

Re: i/v fluids

dinny_06 — Mon, 25 Oct 2010 20:36:54 GMT

If its and emergency we will through them in the microwave for 2minutes on power 2. But i have read the other posts and if the fluids are going to be administered at a slow rate i agree there is no point at heating. I cant believe it cause i am only after reading the above posts and saying to myself i never thought of that lol. I must be stupid

Re: i/v fluids

Vicky RVN — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 21:44:25 GMT

I tried something new the other day...

Rather than having the drip line in warm water i used old drip bags (like has been suggested on here before, with food dye injected into them) which were microwaved and put either side of the drip line, warmed the line nicely throughout the op.

Re: i/v fluids

Karen Wilkins — Mon, 13 Sep 2010 16:14:55 GMT

In short, NO!!!

Our official answer from Aqupharm is that using a microwave to heat fluids really is not a good idea, for lots of reasons - hot spots, problems with bag and lack of control.

We ALWAYS recommend using a warm water bath, or better still, a fluid line heater which heats the fluid as it passes along the drip line, giving constant heat to the fluid and ensuring warm fluid is always delivered to the patient. The problem with only heating the bag is that it will cool down very quickly and end up with cold fluid being given to the patient over a period of time.

The fluid heaters are not expensive, please contact your local ANimalcare rep or HO for more info.

Hope this helps.

Karen

Re: i/v fluids

Laura Ringsell — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 19:19:53 GMT

I asked a rep about this once and she said perfectly safe. I would agree with all the other comments regarding not for long, squidging bags and not re- heating etc though

Re: i/v fluids

Phrin Vernon RVN — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 23:02:54 GMT

[quote user="*Steph *"]

Warm water baths - I'm way too paranoid about microwaves - esp our one in practice! unless the vet wants one urgently, then we will microwave for a few seconds at a time, mixing in between.. but I have learnt now that if the vet is doing an abdo surgery or similar, then he tends to want a load of fluids to 'wash out the abdo' .. so I get one warming up in the sink ready just incase!

Saying that.. once the fluids have warmed up in warm water, if the vet decides he no longer needs the wash, are they still ok to use again after being warmed up?? I wouldn't know as we've never really not needed them!

[/quote]

Once a bag has been warmed up and not used, we tend to just keep them for use on wound lavages pre surgery.

Doesn't happen that often though tbh

Re: i/v fluids

Vicky RVN — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:59:20 GMT

I wouldn't use a bag that has been warmed and not used...can't imagine they'd be any good?

Re: i/v fluids

Steph Phillips — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 22:54:45 GMT

Re: i/v fluids

Phrin Vernon RVN — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 21:50:33 GMT

In the distant past I have microwaved fluids many times, but now I'm in a practice where we use warm water baths. I think Caro's point about the possible potential effects of microwaving the plastic bag has just made my mind up on this! Water baths all the way!

We need to warm ours really, as they are stored in the cellar, and so are usually below normal room temp.

I agree that it is pretty pointless trying to warm the bag for a hypothermic patient, as by the time the fluid is at the end of the giving set, all the heat will have been lost - I prefer to run the line through warm water as close as it safely possible to the patient.

Re: i/v fluids

hobbits — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:44:40 GMT

agree with steph - only for abdominal flushing when they should be warmed to body temp or close otherwise they can rapidly lower body temp and possibly induce shock. we use hot water baths to do this unless we need it very urgently in which case we do microwave,

For IVFT we use a fluid warmer, but in recumbant animals a hot hand or snugglesafe with the iv line wrapped around it as close to the animal as possible works better than heating the bag.

the hot hands work best on GA'ed animals as no risk of them perforating them!

HTH

Re: i/v fluids

Steph Worsley — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:37:50 GMT

TBH we very rarely warm fluids unless they are going to be bubble wrapped/kept warm somehow as by the time the fluids get to the animal they are room temp again anyway

Re: i/v fluids

Vicky RVN — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 18:15:28 GMT

I always stick them in hot water. If the animal is under GA i keep the fluid warm by putting the drip line in warm water as close to the patient as possible.

Re: i/v fluids

Caro Laithwaite VN — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 13:01:31 GMT

Possibly one danger to m/waving the bags is not hot areas but the plastic. Only certain plastics can be microwaved others it is dangerous as changes the chemical constitution and causes a toxin now this probably wouldn't matter for one bag but it may damage stability of the contents.

With that in mind the hot water bath is probably the safest way to go. Unless it says micowave safe then the item should not be microwaved.

Re: i/v fluids

Emma Purnell — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:23:12 GMT

If we need to do it we put it in for literally 2-3 seconds, take it out and squidge it around, then continue until the temperature is right. The reason for this is to avoid some sections of the bag being warmed more than others as microwaves will tend to do.

Re: i/v fluids

Honeybadger — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 10:01:36 GMT

Not for too long or the bag will burst. (previous experience!)

Re: i/v fluids

Nick Shackleton — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 09:14:44 GMT

Have done it in the past. But prob not good practice! Where I used to work we would put the incubator on in recovery 1st thing in the morning and put in a load of fluids and warm them up that way.

Re: i/v fluids

kaz84 — Tue, 07 Sep 2010 04:50:19 GMT

i was actually thinking this last week, if so for how long. im pretty sure your not meant to, thats what warm boxes are for. what about in warm water how long do you soak them for?