IV fluids in LTC setting?

LOL...Smart guy. I wouldn't have thought of that.

we give tons of IVs!

we have lots of patients admitted for IV antibiotic therapy longterm. if a patient's input is low we sink an IV for fluids quickly. bp low? IV in. i actually run more IVs in my current setting than i did in the hospital.

many patients have PICCs for the long term therapy but i am forever running around starting IVs. we also have patients with ports that we access and use on a routine basis or we access monthly for flush.

we are basically a short stay rehab center with about 25 long term residents.

to the ER nurse...ive always wondered why in the world you guys remove the IV that you just started in the ER if you know the patient is coming back on IVs??? it's not like an ambulatory patient that is going home. that i can understand. but we are talking transfer from one health care facility to another, usually via ambulance. why do you guys do that and cause the pt to be stuck AGAIN? that has never, ever made any sense to me!

CrystalClear....we are from the same area (I think) and from my experiences, it just all depends. Mostly we get a good bit of IV antibiotics, mostly treating wound infections or sepsis. A lot of them are on longer term ivs so they have a picc or at least a midline in place. We get the occasional resident with IV fluids too, but most are short term and DC'd within the week.

We had this too. Poor people, they end up having to go to a Rehab facility where there is far more potential for infection than if they were at home. Apparently medicare would not pay for this one patient we had to have the IV at home.

Don't chart that the patient was only in the facility to get the IVs...you'd spark a Medicare audit for sure. We do all sorts of IV's...PICC lines, Mid-Lines, Peripherals. I've worked in LTC where we did central lines, TPN, PCA pump. It makes sense for us to keep our residents instead of sending them to the hospital where 1)no one knows them, 2) it's far more costly,and 3) 99% of the time they come back sicker than when we sent them.