How to Set Up a Syringe Driver

Whether at home or in a hospital setting, patients receiving intravenous medications in a continuous setting can do so with the aid of a syringe driver. As electronically controlled medical devices, syringe drivers infuse small volumes, typically 20 mLs or less, of medication at a constant rate. For example, a 20 mL dose of the antibiotic vancomycin can be infused at a rate of two mLs a minute over a 10 minute duration. Doses requiring continuous infusion like this are generally administered by a syringe driver.

Things You'll Need

• Sterile gloves
• Alcohol swabs
• Tubing set
• Syringe

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Instructions

• 1

  Put on sterile rubber gloves. Use alcohol swabs to clean off the area where the IV will be placed.

• 2

  Read the syringe label. Ensure that the patient's name, medication, dose, infusion rate and diluent solution are correct. The syringe or syringe envelope should also bear the initials of the pharmacist who checked it and the pharmacy technician who prepared the medication.

• 3

  Set the rate listed on the prescription label on the front panel of the syringe driver.

• 4

  Remove the tubing set from it's plastic overwrap. Stretch and gently pull on the tubing to ensure the line is straight.

• 5

  Prime the tubing set by attaching the Luer-Lock end to the syringe. Once the tubing is primed, slowly turn the butterfly clip on the other end of the tubing to release the gravity flow aspect of the tubing. The solution will flow through the tubing set. Once the fluid reaches the end, click the lock on the tubing and hold the opened end in the air.

• 6

  Fit the syringe into the top of the syringe driver. Ensure it fits correctly by placing it into the correct grooves for the plunger and barrel.

• 7

  Attach the open end of the tubing that you have been holding in the air to the IV site. Start the syringe driver and administer the medication.