Tips to reduce air alarms
The material below is a suggestion. Please ensure you follow your hospital policy regarding the minimisation of air in dedicated giving sets.
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In short, there are three key things you could do to potentially minimise air in line alarms:
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Enter the correct Volume To Be Infused (VTBI) taking into account any priming volume used from the bag into the dedicated giving set
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Prime the giving set slowly ensuring any air bubbles are removed before connection to a patient
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Ensure there is sufficient volume in your drip chamber. Don't let it run dry.
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Generally, infusion bags have an overfill to allow for evaporation over time. This means that, for example, if you enter a VTBI of 50mL when hanging a 50mL bag then you should not encounter any air in line issues.
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All dedicated Agilia VP MC infusion giving sets have an approx. priming volume between 25mL and 30mL.
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So, if as an example, you have hung a 100mL bag and used that bag to prime your giving set then your first VTBI will be 75mL assuming the dedicated giving set you have used has a priming volume of 25mL. If you then later use that same set with a second bag of the same solution or drug then you would enter 100mL as your VTBI as the line is already primed.
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Use the roller clamp on the set to manage the rate at which the set is priming and when the fluid from the bag inside the giving set approaches any needle-free ports we recommend inverting the port and tapping gently as it primes to dislodge any trapped air. A video showing this technique can be seen HERE.
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Continue priming the giving set slowly until all air has been removed and the set is fully primed.
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All Agilia VP MC dedicated giving sets come with our Flow Stop cap on the end of the sets.
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This is a hydrophobic cap. It allows you to prime the giving set and any air will be allowed through the cap when priming but when the fluid reaches the cap the fluid flow will stop.
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The Agilia Connect range of infusion devices all have the ability for Drug Error Reduction Software (DERS) programming.
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The Fresenius Kabi DERS is called Vigilant Master Med.
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Using Vigilant Master Med you can set individual air settings for any drug protocol you wish. This is especially useful for drugs in which air bubbles can develop caused by outgassing. Select HERE for more details on outgassing.
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Setting a custom air sensor setting for these drugs may allow for less air in line alarms to happen on your pump as you have set the air allowance to be higher for these drugs. For more information on this please contact your local Fresenius Kabi representative.
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Our final tip for reducing air in line alarms is to ensure that you loop the giving set and clip it into the small hook you see on the left-hand side of your pump.
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For more information on any of the topics above please contact your local Fresenius Kabi representative or use the ask us a question feature by selecting HERE.
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