We have recently changed out intravenous syringe pumps and soon we will also include new volumetric pumps and we have had a question raised about what the pump pressures are set at. Could you let me know what your unit's pump pressures are set at and if you have any guidelines about the pressure settings. Is there any evidence to support this? I have found some articles from 2005 but there doesn't appear to be much information about this. 

Thanks Nettie (South Australia)

Hi! I can just fw our nursing protocol, i.e. no references, but we aim a max pressure of 20 mm Hg above the "vessel pressure" for peripheral venous cannulas and regular UVC and UAC. Which means max of 40 mm Hg in a regular venous cannula, and max 20+MAP in an UAC.

 

For peripherally inserted central lines (typically 27/28G) we start at a max pressure of 150 mmHg, but we allow the max pressure to be as high as 300 mm Hg.