safe administration of intravenous medication and management of a central line

Literature Review

Safe Administration of Intravenous Medication and Management of Central Line

Introduction

Intravenous therapy is a crucial element of acute care management this provides easy access for medication , maintaining fluid and electrolyte balance , and administration of blood products (Wiechula Hodgkinson 2002 . This is an invasive procedure that entails a number of risks for the patient . This literature review will provide important information regarding the safe administration of intravenous medication and the management of the central line

Safe Administration of Intravenous Medication

The article Safe Practice in intravenous

medicine administration from the Nursing Standard journal provided a detailed account of safe administration of intravenous medication . The IV route has many advantages over other routes , mainly because of its absorption rate , but it must only be used when its benefits outweigh its risks (Lavery 2008 . The first step in safe administration of intravenous medication is assessment of the patient 's condition and satisfying the 5 Rights of drug administration Right Patient , Right Dose , Right Medication , Right Route , and Right time . The patient 's chart must also be checked for all the other drugs that the patient is currently taking . The expiration date of the medicine ed must be checked as well . Drug interactions and interval of the medication must be considered as well . This must be taken seriously as 22 of medication errors committed on general medical practice were due to lack of knowledge of this little detail (Joanna Briggs Institute , 2005 . As a confirmatory measure the drug must be consulted with another nurse . There was evidence that suggested the efficiency of having two nurses check medication s prior to administration (Joanna Briggs Institute , 2005 . Following hospital protocol , the procedure must be explained to the patient and acquire consent on the doing the procedure . Secondly , the materials needed for the procedure must be prepared . The materials needed will be dependent on the route specified which could be bolus injection , intermittent infusion , and continuous infusion . IV bolus injection requires the use of a syringe conclusive evidence suggested that labels on syringes or enhancements on syringe may prevent medication errors (ISMP Medication Safety Alert , 2004 . Application of aseptic technique is essential in the process of drug administration through the intravenous route . Thus swabbing the injection port with alcohol is an important practice . The injection port is exposed to bacteria and injecting these to the patient 's system must be avoided (Institute for Safe Medication Practices , 2007 . No conclusive evidence was presented on this claim Upon swabbing the IV port with alcohol and letting it dry , the next step is to administer the medication at the IV port . The rate of the IV push must be observed carefully , since there are conclusive evidence of death occurring on an IV push that was done too quickly (Cohen , 2003 . This is known as Speed Shock ' and will be discussed in detail later . If the method of administration is through continuous infusion , the rate of infusion must be confirmed with another nurse (Joanna Briggs Institute 2005...