A client receives parenteral nutrition through a central venous catheter. Highlight the findings that require prompt catheter-infection follow-up.
Highlight in Table
Choose your responses, then check the answer.
Explanation
Fever with rigors, drainage, insertion-site tenderness, and a wet or loose dressing require prompt central-line assessment and protocol-based follow-up. A clean dry dressing and intact dedicated lumen are protective findings.
Quick answer Escalate systemic infection cues and loss of dressing or site integrity.
Why this is correct Central access can deliver organisms directly into the bloodstream. Dressing integrity, aseptic hub access, skin antisepsis, and prompt response to infection cues are core protections.
Easy analogy or mental picture Treat every infusion as a controlled clinical system: verify the product and access, recognize a changing cue, stop preventable exposure, stabilize the client, and confirm the response.
NCLEX decision rule Choose the action that prevents the most immediate infusion-related harm while preserving vascular access and the ordered diagnostic evidence.
Why the other choices are wrong Options that restart a suspect product, bypass a safety device, force an occluded tube, or delay reassessment can convert a reversible warning into serious harm.
References
1CDC Guidelines for Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related InfectionsChlorhexidine-alcohol skin preparation, drying, sterile barrier practice, dressing integrity, and infection assessment