Magnesium Placement on Mainline

[VeniVidiVici]

Hi, everyone.

Ive been in L&D for 2.5 years and recently started at a new hospital. Where I came from, we usually plugged the mag into the second port of the mainline because pts have complained that the mag burns. The other night one of my the charge nurses told me no and had never heard of mag burning. Is this a thing other places? Where do you plug in your mag if it's the only thing running other than your mainline?

Thanks.

[klone, MSN, RN]

If it's the only thing running, it goes into the port closest to the patient (because if it has to be shut off, you don't want a whole line of mag going in after it's d/c'ed. If it's running with Pit, the Pit goes into the closest port and the mag goes into the next closest port.

Yes, we let patients know that burning at the IV site is a side effect. I will offer to wrap a patient's arm in a warm blanket (not sure why it works, but it does) if they are experiencing burning.