A nurse is administering intravenous dopamine [Intropin] to a patient in the intensive care unit. Which assessment finding would cause the most concern?
a. Blood pressure of 100/70 mm Hg
b. Increased urine output
c. Edema at the IV insertion site
d. Headache
C
The nurse would be concerned if the patient's peripheral IV were edematous, because this could signal infiltration of the solution into the tissues. Dopamine can cause necrosis if it extravasates. Dopamine is indicated to increase the patient's blood pressure; this blood pressure reading is ac-ceptable. When dopamine is effective at increasing cardiac output, it also causes an increase in urine output. Headache is not a contraindication to the use of dopamine.
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