The nurse is caring for a patient who requires four intravenous drugs with four different pHs to be infused through an intravenous catheter that was just placed. In which order must they be administered to help prevent extravasation? Place the answers in the correct order.

Question

Accepted Answer

Drug with pH = 10, Drug with pH = 5, Drug with pH = 8, Drug with pH = 7. Highly acidic and highly basic medications are harmful to veins and place the patient at significant risk for extravasation. In order to minimize the risk for extravasation, the nurse should first administer medications starting with the highest risk for extravasation, then the next highest risk, and so on. Therefore, the drug with the pH farthest from 7 must be administered first. The drug with the pH of 10 is the farthest from neutral, so it is administered first. The second drug to be administered is the drug with a pH of 5. The third drug to be administered is the one with a pH of 8. The last drug to be administered is the neutral one: the one with pH = 7.

Want help? View the answer with rationale.

Rationale

Additional Pharmacological and Parenteral Therapies Questions

Nursing Careers

Nursing Degrees

NCLEX