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This year, an estimated 1.4 million Americans will have a new or recurrent heart attack.
When blood is exposed to air, it clots. Heparin allows the blood to come in direct contact with air without clotting.
Blood is approximately twice as thick as water because of the cells and other components found in it.
Patients who cannot swallow may receive nutrition via a parenteral route—usually, a catheter is inserted through the chest into a large vein going into the heart.
Though newer “smart” infusion pumps are increasingly becoming more sophisticated, they cannot prevent all programming and administration errors. Health care professionals that use smart infusion pumps must still practice the rights of medication administration and have other professionals double-check all high-risk infusions.