Turkish doctors urge patients to stop asking for IV drips when ill

Mesude Erşan – ISTANBUL

Turkish doctors are urging patients to stop demanding to be injected intravenous saline fluids when ill.

“Resting, consuming drinks, and getting medication will suffice,” the doctors say.

“Even though some patients don’t directly request it, they come to us with expectations of getting IV fluid injections. However, they should only be used on patients who cannot be fed orally. It is unnecessary to practice this medication on patients who could actually easily get better by resting,” said Başak Bayram, a doctor and member of the Emergency Medicine Association of Turkey. 

The financial burden of the IV fluids, given that they are unnecessary, is costly, she said.

Bayram also stressed that during wintertime the usage of the injections increase by 100 percent in Turkey. “For patients with cardiac insufficiency, excessive liquid load can cause damage,” she said.

Ferudun Çelikmen, also a doctor and a member of Yeditepe University’s medical school, stressed that the fluid given redundantly to patients means the unnecessary occupancy of a bed in the emergency service for three to four hours. “We cannot find beds for the patients who are really in need of emergency service,” he said.

“Symptoms such as asthenia, sleepiness and loss of appetite together with fever point out to a need for resting. Our immune system needs to rest in order to function decently,” said Esin Davutoğlu Şenol, an infectious diseases expert.