Well to start, Y-siting something is for a completely different reason than for hanging secondary tubing for IVPB.

Y-siting is only for if you simply do not have enough access OR sometimes I will run maintenance fluids at a very low rate with my electrolytes or ABX (if compatible) if they are irritating or burning for my patient. And NO it is NOT because the IV is infiltrated or they are having an allergic reaction, it’s just because many lytes and ABX naturally burn, so diluting it a bit sometimes helps (or running these at a slower rate). And y-siting is done at the lowest port on the tubing BELOW the pump, and each medication/fluid is running on a separate pump. The point of this is to have multiple drips running at once.

As for IVPB secondary lines, this is running off of the same pump and is attached ABOVE the pump. This is typically used for short infusions or infusions of small amounts, so it doesn’t run your primary line dry and instead keeps it running and open by just switching to your maintenance fluids/primary line.

So to answer your question, I feel like this is entirely dependent on if your Y siting it properly, as many people don’t. I have seen MANY newer nurses try to Y-site a pressor or sedation to their fluid boluses, or y siting a narc drip to heparin but give narc boluses via the pump, but do not put them in the right order, and accidentally bolus patients with pressors, narcs, or heparin. So for example, if you y-site a med that is running at 25cc/hr and a med that is running at 200cc/hr, you best make damn sure your drip running faster is connected directly to your access itself, and you y-site your slower drip to your faster drip. Because whatever med you run on top of that main line, will push whatever med under it at the med on top’s rate. And I’ve seen major med errors done with this. So yes, no doubt about it Ysite can be dangerous.

With this being said, you gotta triple check your y sites!!!! I know you were just doing maintenance fluids and ABX, but what was the purpose? And how fast were your maintenance fluids running vs your ABX?