Whats the difference between an I.V going interstitial, being infiltrated, or having phlebitis?

2018nurseandbeyond · Jul 28, 2020

two most common one is infiltrations/phlebitis

phlebitis - itis - redness. patient will complain of soreness at the site, it'll be red and warm and hurt if you try to flush it. best to take it out before it gets worse as ivs are a potential source of infection.

infiltration - a keen eye to ivs is if the skin starts to get "tight" and cool to touch. infiltrations are now graded ( atleast where I am) as incident reports/sentinel events on a I-IV scale. Infiltrations can be minor, or huge, with pitting edema. Sometimes infiltrations need hot or cool compresses depending on the component in the IV.

interstitial, im dumb I never heard of this, or forgot about it from nursing schol.

HiddencatBSN, BSN · Jul 28, 2020

I think interstitial and infiltration would be the same thing? I’ve never heard interstitial used but that’s where the fluid is going with an infiltration so that would make sense to me.

amoLucia · Jul 28, 2020

OP - maybe if you tell us what you understand, we can help fill in.

2018 - interstitial = clysis, maybe?????