Hello AAACN Community!
For those of you whose facilities support IV fluid administration in an urgent care, primary care, or specialty clinic setting (i.e., outside of an infusion room): does your nursing staff or EMR document the volume of fluid infused on an I&O flowsheet?
Our facility is piloting this, and we want to make sure our documentation meets basic standards and supports the needs of other professionals in the event that someone requires an elevated level of care within 24 hours of the administration. Our team is debating whether documenting volume on a flowsheet like this could be considered a nursing care standard and whether it is relevant given we do not plan to collect/document any other intake or output data to assess overall fluid balance. In our outpatient infusion centers, the volume is automatically recorded on an I&O flowsheet through the protocol activity they utilizing for order release, however it currently it appears our other outpatient staff will be documenting administration on the MAR as a bolus infusion, which does not automatically population on this sheet, and in narrative note format.
Any thoughts or insights based on current experience greatly appreciated! Thank you!
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Heather Harker Ryan, PhD., RN
Clinical Nurse Educator & Nurse Scientist, Ambulatory Services
Cambridge Health Alliance, Cambridge MA
hryan@challiance.org------------------------------