An older female client has normal saline infusing at 45ml/hour. She complains of pain the insertion site of the IV catheter. There is no redness or edema around the IV site. Which action should the nurse take?

a.     Determine what IV medications have recently been administered.

b.     Explain that without redness or edema, there is no need to re-start the IV.

c.      Consult with the healthcare provider about the best localization to start a new IV.

d.     Convert the IV to a saline lock and continue to monitor the site.

Answer:

An older female client has normal saline infusing at 45ml/hour. She complains of pain the insertion site of the IV catheter. There is no redness or edema around the IV site. Which action should the nurse take?

c.  Consult with the healthcare provider about the best localization to start a new IV.

IV fluid and drug administration should not hurt, if the drugs are diluted and administered correctly, blood flow around the catheter is adequate to dilute them further and if the catheter is properly immobilized, an infusion should not cause pain. If the client complains of pain during an infusion it indicates vein damage that may lead to infiltration. Therefore the best action the nurse should take is to consult with the healthcare provider about localization of the IV and whether to start a new IV.

References

 Rickard CM, Webster J, Wallis MC, Marsh N, McGrail MR, French V, et al. Routine versus clinically indicated replacement of peripheral intravenous catheters: a randomised controlled equivalence trial. Lancet. 2012;380(9847):1066-1074. 10.1016/S0140-6736(12)61082-4 [PubMed] [CrossRef]

 Bicen AO, West LL, Cesar L, Inan OT. Toward non-invasive and automatic intravenous infiltration detection: evaluation of bioimpedance and skin strain in a pig model. IEEE J Transl Eng Health Med. 2018;6:4100207 10.1109/JTEHM.2018.2815539