# Ordering Infusions

There are several different kinds of infusion orders, including intravenous (IV), epidural, IV piggyback, etc.

In the Infusion Order dialog, the order type--Continuous or Intermittent-- affects whether some fields are available or visible. The two types of IVs are defined as follows:

· Continuous IV: an IV that runs at a specified rate (ml/hr, mcg/kg/min, etc.).

· Intermittent IV: an IV administered at scheduled intervals (Q4H, QDAY) or One-Time only, "over a specified period of time" (e.g., "Infuse over 30 min.").

For Intermittent orders, the Infusion Rate field changes to be Infuse over Time, the Schedule field becomes available (not greyed out), and check boxes display for the PRN and Give additional Dose Now options. On both dialogs, required fields are identified by an asterisk following the field label (such as Route*, for example). Intermittent orders no longer required a solution to finish the order. Continuous orders still require a solution before the order can be finished. For CPRS to accept the order, the user must enter values in the required fields, including the units.

For the Route field, CPRS uses the following rules to define whether it displays a default route for the selected medication:

· If all of the orderable items on the order have the same default medication route defined, CPRS designates the default medication route in the selection list.

· If one or more orderable items on the order have different default medication routes, no medication route in the selection lest will be denoted as the default.

Related topics

How to Write Orders

Placing Continuous Infusion Orders

Placing Intermittent Infusion Orders