Question

The patient is receiving non-vesicant IV fluids via peripheral IV and asks for pain medication. Prior to giving the medication, the nurse discovers that the site is cool and blanched, edematous with taut skin, and there is fluid leaking from the site. The patient reports that the area is tender and uncomfortable and that the IV pump keeps beeping. The nurse knows that this patient's IV site is likely displaying signs of:

Answer 1

Intravenous (IV) drug administration is one of the routes or methods of administration of drug which involves delivering of the drug directly into the vein. Non-vesicant IV fluids which includes normal saline and many antibiotics are administered through this process. The procedure involves a needle which is usually inserted into a vein in the wrist, elbow, or the back of your hand. The catheter is then pushed over the needle. The needle is removed, and the catheter remains in your vein.

There some complications which are likely to occur during the administration of non-vesicant fluid through IV route. A typical example is IV INFILTRATION. This is defined as the accidental leakage of non-vesicant fluid into the surrounding tissue from the vein. It includes the following sings and symptoms:

--> Redness around the site.

--> Swelling, puffy or hard skin around the site.

--> Blanching (that is, lighter skin around the IV site)

--> Pain or tenderness around the site.

--> IV not working (IV pump keeps beeping)

--> Cool skin temperature around the IV site.

From the above explanation about IV INFILTRATION, the nurse knows that this patient's IV site is likely displaying signs of INFILTRATION