Self administered IV fluids

[sagutri...@smcm.edu]

Hello.  I received a call today from a nurse providing care to an incoming freshman.  Student has POTS and receives 2 L of IV fluids weekly.  The nurse (works for a company not a hospital) goes to the student's home each week and places a hep lock IV.  The student then connects to fluids when they choose and run it on their own at home and DC their own IV.  Student has done this every week for past 3 months and prior to that was receiving fluids in doctor's office.  The student only needs a nurse to place a hep lock IV.  The student will provide all supplies.  Does anyone have experience with these situations?  I will add we are a small state school in a rural area and our county is a medically under served county.  The closest hospital is 20 minutes away.  We are staffed with a full time RN (me), a part time PA M-F 1-4:30 and a part time RN 12 hours a week.  We do not offer IV fluids as a service.

Thank you for any information or opinions you are willing to share with me.

Respectfully,

Stephenie

[Karen Hiney]

I think my response would be that the student needs to contract with a home health care agency such as the current situation sounds like, get her a private res hall room, and have the nurse from the agency come and do it. This will leave you out of the loop with the IV therapy and you could support the student with other services that align with your services that are offered.

Hope this helps,

Karen Hiney BSN RN

Johnson & Wales University

Charlotte, NC

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