IV Therapy

The physician has ordered a peripheral IV to be inserted before the patient goes to the operating room. What should the nurse do when selecting a site on the hand or arm for insertion of an IV catheter?

Choose a distal site

You are the nurse caring for a patient who is to receive IV daunorubicin. You start the infusion and check the insertion site as per protocol. This time when you look at the IV site, you note that the IV has infiltrated. You stop the infusion. What is your main concern with this infiltration?

Extravasation of the medication

A client has just undergone insertion of a peripherally inserted central venous catheter (PICC) at the bedside. The nurse would be sure to check the results of which of the following before initiating the flow rate of the client's IV solution at 100ml/hr?

Portable chest x-ray

Intravenous (IV) infiltration of any amount of blood product, irritant or vesicant is considered the most severe

True

You are caring for a patient with a diagnosis of pancreatitis. The patient was admitted from a homeless shelter and is a poor historian. The patient appears malnourished and TPN has been started. Why would you know to start the TPN slowly?

Malnourished patients receiving parenteral nutrition are at risk for hypophosphatemia if calories are started too aggressively.

You are making initial shift assessments on your patients. While assessing one patient's peripheral IV site, you note edema around the insertion site. How will you document this complication related to IV therapy?

infiltration

The nurse is preparing a continuous intravenous (IV) infusion at the medication cart. As the nurse goes to attach the distal end of the IV tubing to a needleless device, the exposed tubing drops and hits the top of the medication cart. Which of the following is the appropriate action by the nurse?

Obtain a new IV tubing

When assessing the IV site for infiltration, the nurse should look for which of the following findings? (Select all that apply.)

Damp dressing, Local swelling at the site, An increase rate of infusion, A drop in temperature around the site.

As part of a large hospital's IV team, two nurses are responsible for inserting peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) at the bedside for patients who require this form of venous access. Which of the following patients would most likely require a PICC?

A woman who has just been ordered total parenteral nutrition (TPN)

A nurse assesses a patient's IV lines on an hourly basis. When checking the IVs this hour, the nurse finds localized pain, redness, warmth, and swelling around the insertion site of a 25-year-old female patient. What is the nurse's first priority?

Discontinue the IV infusion