prioritizing

[archiewoo]

Could someone tell me if I am correct? I have an order to initiate antibiotic IV therapy and change a wound dressing. The first thing that I would do is start the IV therapy first and then assess and clean the wound. Is that correct?

thank you

[malenurse69, MSN, NP]

Sounds like an excellent student question that belongs in the student forums

[archiewoo]

was not aware.

[traumaRUs, MSN, APRN]

Moved to another forum for more answers.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

Sounds like a good plan to me. A dressing change could take time and may delay the start of antibiotics. So getting the infusion going before addressing the wound is a good idea. In real life, of course, the answer is it depends” on several factors- like how complicated the dressing change is, whether the antibiotics are available from pharmacy, whether the patient has concurrent or incompatible IV infusions that need to finish first, etc.

[archiewoo]

thank you for your input. very appreciated

[bgxyrnf, MSN, RN]

The timing of antibiotics is important. The initial doses should be given as soon as possible after the order because an active infections can grow at alarmingly high rates.

Maintaining uniform levels of the drugs in the blood stream is achieved by uniform spacing of doses.

And from a time-management standpoint, the dressing change will typically be much more time consuming than hanging the abx.

[archiewoo]

thank you. I am on the right track

[needlesmcgeeRN, ASN, RN]

As Double-Helix stated, in real life your prioritizing will be different. However, keep in mind, when it comes to the NCLEX - don't read into the question.

Sounds like a good plan to me. A dressing change could take time and may delay the start of antibiotics. So getting the infusion going before addressing the wound is a good idea. In real life, of course, the answer is it depends” on several factors- like how complicated the dressing change is, whether the antibiotics are available from pharmacy, whether the patient has concurrent or incompatible IV infusions that need to finish first, etc.