Neonatal IV question

[NickB]

I'm curious how everyone is covering their neonatal hand and arm IV's. In my SCN, some nurses like to cover them with diapers. I feel this looks tacky. I usually use one of our neonatal hats, not the ones made by our volunteers, but the ones that our hospital supplies. I'm just curious if anyone has other ideas. I like to cover the IV and board to keep the baby from scratching their body and face and take it off for hourly checks and when I am administering meds.

[phoenix99]

Hi, Ive worked NICU for many years and never have used an armboard except in extreme circumstances i.e. antecubital IV that is positional.

I find IV's are just fine without armboards and stay in just as long probably as ones with armboards.

But if I used armboards I would want them as pretty as possible. :)

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We don't cover ours at all. I've never had a kid scratch themselves either, so I guess I never thought about it. But I wouldn't because while you may take it off and look at it every hour, I am willing to bet there are people that don't.

[NICU_babyRN, BSN, RN]

Yeah....best not to cover IV sites so that you can easily assess them hourly! If arm board is needed, we make them as soft as possible using a preemie diaper (wee pee) or half tongue and 4x4s.

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

we have very nice, soft neonatal and preemie arm boards, I have never seen a kid scratch themselves with them. We also never cover an IV site, that includes swaddling so the kiddo is always tightly swaddled with affected extremity left out.

[NICURN29]

We only use armboards on IVs that are positional. We have little IV houses (like the ones used on the Peds floor) that we use on big kids, but otherwise, we do not cover our IVs. I don't have a problem with babies scratching themselves with their IVs.

[MKS8806]

We have very nice cushiony arm boards as well. I have put some netting over the site before if I have a grabby baby and I'm worried their going to pull on the IV tubing or if they're out with mom and I'm wanting to keep the site from being pulled or snagged. But otherwise, I leave them uncovered.

[babybums]

i would never cover up an iv site. for small babies or sedated babies i use rolled up gauze as an arm board.

[lovemybabes]

We never cover our IV sites. We do hourly IV checks and would have to remove a cover every hour to check it. We have padded arm boards we get in pink and blue. The Dr's want most of our IV's secured with an armboard. I've never had a baby get scrathed from an IV.

[HeartNIC]

We do not cover IV's with anything. Our armboards are soft and cushiony and there has been no problems with babies scractching themselves.

I know in PEDS they use covers to keep their patients from picking at and pulling out their IV's but we have never had a reason to cover our IV's in NICU.

[darynash]

We do not use armboards or cover IV sites. We have had no problems with babies scratching themselves.

[MegNeoNurse]

We never cover our IVs in NICU, in PICU yes as those kids actually realize they have an I'VE in their arm/hand and might pull it out. In NICU sometimes all you have for access is a PIV and TPN is often run peripherally. I would NEVER have TPN, bicarbonate, a KCl blouse etc running peripherally and not be able to see the insertion site at least hourly. Infiltration can cause serious damage!!!