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Essay On Iv Therapy

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In searching for a topic pertaining to my area of nursing specialty, I began my search in Google and searched “trends in I.V. therapy”. This topic is of interest to me because as a high tech infusion home care nurse, I currently have been seeing an increase in peripheral intravenous (PIV) infections. Due to insurance cut backs and their refusals to pay for hospital admissions patients are being discharged home to receive their IV antibiotic therapy or other peripheral medications. As a high tech IV infusion nurse myself, I am responsible for instructing and educating my patients on proper hand hygiene prior to any contact of their PIV and medication. Infection control is so important when dealing with peripheral intravenous lines, hand hygiene, aseptic technique and cleansing the area prior to placement are top priorities (Hadaway & Millam, 2007). This practice personally shocks me that patients are expected to learn, in only one or two visits, how to calculate IV drip factor rates and properly flush their PIV’s with saline prior and after medication administration. …show more content…

Nurses should also have patients demonstrate hand washing technique. Teaching patients about infusion therapy and how to avoid the risk of intravenous infection will help calm their fears and decrease their risks of obtaining an infection. Technology today can help by having patients either record a video of the steps on their smart phone or by writing the steps down. This can decrease patient’s anxiety and stress while increasing confidence. While this topic has been around for many years, both medical professionals and patients need to be educated and strict compliance needs to be followed in order to avoid intravenous and central line infections. Further research is needed in order to discover additional ways of decreasing intravenous and central line infections in the home

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