IV fluids in LTC setting?

State of FL...IV hydration: NS, D5 1/2NS, LR...IV ABX, yep a lot...guess it depends on where you're at...also seeing more midlines, PICC lines, and yes CVPs...

the ltc facility that i work in does administer ivf and at times iv abt. however, where i work is attatched to a small er (2 trauma rooms and maybe 10 beds), so any residents that receive iv abt usually are transferred down the hall & admitted to er (payment issue-medicare will pay if in er but doesn't pay much if in ltc).

yes, ivf and iv abt are administered in the ltc setting.

I live in Pa...thank you all so much for the responses(and future ones).

Work in an ER here. LTC's usually send patients to the ER to get IVF/ABX. However, if the pt had an IV in the ER but is getting sent back, the IV comes out. We don't send pt's back with IV's left in place. Usually they get the 1st dose IV and then switched over to PO.

i'm a lpn working in ltc in pa. just went for iv therapy certification last week. the facility is taking more iv, midline and picc patients.

My brother lives in a LTC and has a port. (He's a quad). He will bet IV ABX in the nursing home through his port, but I don't think the NH will access his port. I think that is done in the hospital or Dr.'s office.

If we send patients to a NH with IV ABX, we usually send them with a PICC, not a peripheral IV.

And on a side note, we had a patient once who needed to go home on IV ABX. Medicare would not pay $40.00 a day for a HH nurse to come administer them, so they sent him to LTC for the 10 days. How does that make sense? (They guy was capable of self care and had a spouse at home with him too that was capable.)

I remember a similar situation to the above post. The fellow was young and lived home with his spouse. He was admitted to the LTC facility /Rehabilitation Center for ABX IV therapy. He used to sign himself out and have his wife pick him up. He would go home and return five minutes prior to his scheduled therapy. Once the therapy was finished, he would leave again. A home health nurse would have been so much more cost effective.

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.