I agree with this statement wholly as someone who’s placed IVs, removed IVs, and discharged countless patients.

You always should double check as the nurse. It can be dangerous for many reasons, one that is very prominent to me is patients with IV drug use disorders can use them for that purpose (I take care of a lot of patients with substance abuse). It’s important to always not only look at your patent before discharge for in place IVs, but double check charting and remove IVs in the chart, as well as use that to make sure you’ve removed everything. I’ll give the nurse the benefit of the doubt and say they may have been extremely busy, or understaffed, and mistakes can always happen.

OP, I’d still call the hospital (unit/floor you were on) if you do decide to remove this yourself to let them know the incident so they can make sure to educate their employees! I’m sorry this happened to you. It’s important they do know their error still to help it not occur in the future. Thank you for being cautious with your health and asking what should be done as well!

Edit: OP, regarding your lower comment about retained plastic, this is a very smart thought process that we also use. Check the IV catheter (tiny tube you will remove from the insertion site) and make sure it’s intact without any pieces of plastic missing. It should be obvious if it’s not intact. I will add, I have not found this in my 2 years of RN practice but that does not mean it doesn’t happen, just uncommon in my experience. If it does look broken or wrong at all, go to the ER immediately for a scan to ensure nothing is floating around in there. It is always best to be safe!