Patient IV Assessment On Admission to Hospital

[RNKPCE]

Does anybody do an IV need assessment upon admission. I took an IV class several years ago and the nurse said that there are some hospitals that do this. On admission they try by diagnosis, history and looking at patient's veins decide if they are going to need IV access, if so for how many days, what kind of fluid, will there be vesicants etc. Then they figure out if it would be better for the patient and more cost effective to start a PICC line or other central line vs a regular peripheral IV.

Sometimes the patient has had numerous venapunctures when it is determined that they need a PICC and they are no longer PICC able.

I would like to see if the powers that be at my hospital would think this kind of assessment if something they would like to implement.

Any help you can offer would be great. Or if you can scan a copy of your IV assessment and attach to a posting that would be great too.

Thanks

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

We don't get that formal with it, but we will contact our IV Team for a PICC assessment if one or two of several criteria are met upon admission. The patient would need to have frequent IV meds (such as for pain/nausea) or long-term antibiotics, or be a hard stick.

I read an article posted here about assessing for IV access and PICC placement recently, and there was a cost-effectiveness table included in it that made me a believer.

[RNKPCE]

Do you know where I can find that posting about the cost effectiveness. That would be a start.

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

I'm sure it was posted here recently, batmik. I seem to remember that it was from an IV Nurse Association.

It might come up if you try a search of this website. I tried to google it, but ever since they sold, I just don't get very good results any more.

[saskrn]

Does anybody do an IV need assessment upon admission. I took an IV class several years ago and the nurse said that there are some hospitals that do this. On admission they try by diagnosis, history and looking at patient's veins decide if they are going to need IV access, if so for how many days, what kind of fluid, will there be vesicants etc. Then they figure out if it would be better for the patient and more cost effective to start a PICC line or other central line vs a regular peripheral IV.

Sometimes the patient has had numerous venapunctures when it is determined that they need a PICC and they are no longer PICC able.

I would like to see if the powers that be at my hospital would think this kind of assessment if something they would like to implement.

Any help you can offer would be great. Or if you can scan a copy of your IV assessment and attach to a posting that would be great too.

Thanks

I used to travel nurse, and I have never seen this done by any facilities I was at. Sometimes it seemed to take a miracle just to get a PICC if a patient needed one. Unless it was a critical patient, it seemed alot of the time, I received patients who needed IV's, had orders, but they were just turfed to the floor from ER without one.