Aprimigravid client at 38 weeks’ gestation comes to the labor room because “my water broke.” the health care provider (hcp) asks the nurse to verify spontaneous rupture of membranes using nitrazine paper. the nurse observes that the nitrazine paper turns bright blue. the nurse’s next action should be to:

38 weeks is early, the full term is typically 40 weeks. Nitrazine paper is a sensitive test of pH and will turn blue in the alkaline fluid. While that can happen for a number of reasons, one of them is that amniotic fluid will turn nitrazine paper bright blue indicating that the membranes have ruptured. Preterm labor management should be started.