Chapter 19: Advanced skills for pregnancy and birth
How to give fluid through a vein
(intravenous solution, or IV)
If a woman loses a lot of blood during childbirth, or
after a complicated miscarriage or abortion, she
needs fluids fast in order to save her life. Take her to
a medical center as soon as possible. On the way,
you can start an intravenous (IV) drip to give her
fluids through her veins. If she is awake and can drink fluids,
let her do so, but you can also give her an IV.
Note: Learning to give an IV takes practice. It is not something that
can be learned just from a book. Watch someone experienced, and
then have someone experienced watch you as you give IVs the first
few times.
How to give an IV
1. Wash your hands well with soap and clean water. Put on clean gloves.
2. Gather all the supplies you will need:
a bag or bottle of
sterile IV fluids
You may use
normal saline,
lactated ringers,
or Hartmann’s
solution.
sterile plastic tubing
(Some IV solution bags
come with a tube
already attached.)
a sterile IV
(butterfly)
needle
tape
to hold the
IV in place
soap and clean water, or
alcohol, to clean the skin
3. Open the sterile package of tubing. Attach the
tubing to the bottle or bag, but do not touch the
part of the tube that attaches to the bag — it must
stay sterile.
4. Hang up the bag of solution. It should be high
enough so that the solution can run down through
the tube. You can hang it from a hook on the wall,
or, in an emergency, someone can hold the bag.
5. Let the fluid run down through the tube to get rid
of any air in the tube. Tie the tube off at the end so
that it does not drip and waste the solution. Some
tubes come with a clip to close the tube.
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A Book for Midwives (2010)