Chapter 05
How is extravasation different from infiltration?
Both conditions lead to swelling, but extravasation causes tissue damage.
While examining a patient's peripheral intravenous (IV) site, you observe a red streak along the length of the vein. On palpation, the vein feels hard and cordlike. What is your best action?
Discontinue the infusion and remove the IV needle
An IV infusion order for a patient reads "1000 mL dextrose 5% in normal saline intravenously, immediately." What additional information does the prescriber need to provide for it to be a valid order?
Duration
What does the term infiltration mean?
Leakage of intravenous fluid into the surrounding tissue
What sign or symptom is an indication of IV extravasation?
Pain at the infusion site
What is the most important advantage for intravenous (IV) infusion of drugs?
The drug reaches the bloodstream immediately
How does the "drop factor" affect IV infusions?
The larger the drop factor, the fewer the number of drops needed to administer 1 mL of infusion fluid.
A patient is to receive 125 mL of intravenous fluid per hour and the drop factor is 10 gtt/mL. You count the 15-second drip rate to be 8 gtt/min. What is your best action?
Turn the rate down to 5gtt/15 s.
Which term describes how much fluid is to be infused intravenously?
Volume
Under which condition should a microdrip setup for an IV infusion always be used?
When the patient is an infant
Which precaution is most important to teach a patient who is receiving intravenous (IV) drug therapy?
"Call me immediately if you start to feel any pain or burning in the arm with the IV."
If an IV schedule to have a duration of 6 hours is started at 5:00 p.m., what is the expected stop time?
11:00 p.m.
A patient is receiving an intravenous (IV) infusion of 1000 mL normal saline solution containing 60 mEq/L of potassium chloride over 6 hours. How many mEq of potassium chloride are delivered per 10 mL of this solution?
0.6
A patient is to receive 100 mL of normal saline over the next 5 hours with microdrip tubing. How many drops per minute are required to infuse this fluid in the prescribed time?
1.20 gtt per minute
A patient is to receive 1000 mL of D5W intravenously over 6 hours. The tubing set has a drop factor of 15 gtt/mL. How many drops per minute are needed to infuse this fluid in the prescribed time?
1.42 gtt per minute
Which drop factor allows the greatest volume of intravenous fluid to be delivered per hour at a drop rate of 50 gtt per minute?
10
What is the hourly flow rate for 250 mL of normal saline to be administered over 2 hours?
125 mL/h
A patient is to recieve 1000mL intravenously of dextrose 5% in lactated Ringer's solution in 8 hours. When you check the intravenous (IV) bag after 2 hours, 700 mL remain in the bag. How many milliliters have already infused?
300
What will the drip rate of an intravenous infusion with a drop factor of 20 need to be in order to deliver 1000 mL in 8 hours?
42 gtt/min
How many drops per milliliter (mL) does a microdrip chamber and tubing provide?
60
On an infusion pump, what does the abbreviation "VtBI" indicate?
Amount of fluid remaining in the bag or bottle
The intravenous (IV) site of a patient who has been receiving IV therapy for 2 days is red and has a small amount of pus oozing from around the needle. What is your action?
Discontinue the IV therapy and notify the prescriber.
A patient's IV is supposed to have a drip rate of 42 gtt/min. You count 8 gtt in 15 seconds. What is your best action?
Increase the drip rate to 10 gtt/15 seconds.
Which problem is a major disadvantage of an intravenous (IV) pump?
It can continue to push fluid into the tissue when infiltration occurs.
