I did IV’s all the time for dehydration. If the pt has a picc line or a port placed, you can teach the family very easily how to administer IV fluids for hydration. However, I refer you back to my precious post regarding hydration during the dying process and how counterproductive, even harmful it is.
Its not always counterproductive or harmful. Sometimes it is just ordinary care, especially for those whose primary problem is an inability to swallow, such as in advanced Parkinson's, stroke, GI cancers, etc..
"Nothing out, nothing in."
If the patient is not producing urine and the lungs are becoming overwhelmed or generalized edema is occurring, yes, IV hydration is counterproductive, even harmful. But in the absence of these, with normal urine output and no symptoms of fluid overload, I can't see how a simple IV can be considered counterproductive or harmful. In my mother in law's case, having that IV meant she could receive the properly titrated amount of morphine in the last 48 hours to ease her breathing. She was not able to swallow at that point, so the liquid morphine was not very effective and the MS Contin was out of the question.
Frankly, there are times when IV hydration is integral to pain control, as dehydration exacerbates so many end of life symptoms. Or at least that's what I'm being told by a number of pro-life hospice nurses, administrators, and medical directors, and what I observed personally as described in previous posts.