jberna4

Thank you iluvit for your information! I am well aware that there are no alarms for infiltration, I was simply pointing out that it was odd to me that there were no alarms. I realize that the pump is only sensitive to back pressure. I only mentioned it to highlight the fact that it wasn't like I was going in every five minutes to silence the alarm (like some nurses do), and then act surprised later when something happens to the IV site.

My patient last night had an IV in their forearm running ns @83 mL/hr. Pump ran w/o any alarms and patient stated no problems with pain or discomfort at the site. Around midnight I noticed that the patient's arm was abnormally swollen. Again, patient expressed no concerns with pain or discomfort and did not want to loose the IV because they did not want to have a new one started. I obviously took out the IV and started a new one in the other arm, but the original arm was swollen beyond belief. My question is this; has anyone else experienced this? I was always taught that pain and/or discomfort were the first signs of infiltration. Please help!