UAP d/c-ing peripheral IV's

[Lorien_LPN]

Hey nurses,

I am in my last semester of RN school and we are discussing and researching the prevalence in my area hospitals of delegating to UAP's the removal of peripheral IV's. I have looked at the policy and procedures of two of the major hospitals, both Trauma II and both have almost a thousand beds. Both insitutions provide in their P&Ps for the UAPs to remove peripheral IVs. One of the insititutions includes removing peripheral IVs in their nurse technitian course they use to train new UAPs.The major issue that has arisen from this is a recent incidence of a UAP removing a catheter but a part of the catheter remained inside the patient's risk requiring the patient to return a week later with a severe infection.

My question to you guys is at your facility is it permitted for UAPs to remove peripheral IVs? This is just out of curiousity not for a school project.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

it is not the task that is daunting, it is the THINKING behind the task. In my state UAP's are not allowed to assess or make nuring judgments. So when the IV is removed, who evaluates the site?

[Otessa, BSN, RN]

Our policies for IVs or foleys,

are to be discontinued only by RNs due to pts having adverse outcomes.

[psu_213, BSN, RN]

At my first job (on an inpatient, post surgical unit) UAP's drew blood, removed PIVs, D/Cd foleys, etc.

In my current job in the ER, UAP insert IVs (they are some of the best IV starters in the dept), draw blood, insert/DC Foleys and DC PIVs. Never had a problem.

[Dazglue, ADN, BSN, MSN, RN]

In my hospital the techs can draw blood, but they can't pull out IV's which is weird because they can draw blood, apply and cut off casts, and insert and d/c foley's.

[kool-aide, RN]

CNAs at my hospital WERE trained to D/C peripheral IVs, but that power was recently taken away from us--idk if it was a facility decision or a state law decision. Seems silly to me, if an angiocath was ever left in the pt, I would think that it was faulty before I would suspect the nurse or CNA to be incompetent.

[Rob72, ASN, RN]

it is not the task that is daunting, it is the THINKING behind the task.

Setting aside the obvious State requirements, one of the most important roles of the RN is mentoring. In line with that, if your techs can't step up to some fairly advanced thinking, quit hiring lazy morons.

As a tech, I was drawing blood & inserting IVs, neo-nate cephalic to quad-amputee pectoral to pedal. I also did dc's. I also did radial, brachial and femoral ABGs. Allen's test, anyone...? I had excellent training and wonderful mentors.

UAP is kind of a catch-all to draw techs under the State BON. Not a bad thing, but skill levels are extremely variable.

[JDZ344]

Where I work, we can d/c IV lines. I have never heard of a part of it being left behind. But the nurses do remove most of them, it's very rare I will be asked to do it.

[talaxandra]

I once had a patient we had to send for a cystoscopy because we couldn't deflate the Foley balloon - turns out someone (a doctor, as it happens) had used saline to inflate, and it really does crystalise! And now, back to the thread...