After cardiac cath

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I have worked in hospitals across the nation, mostly in caradiac. The hospital I am working in places a ice bag and a weighted bag on the cath site during recovery. I am wondering why? They say the manufacturer of angioseal and others recomend this. Does anyone else see this practice?

Here in NSW, Australia, bedrest for 1 hour post angioseal. Bed to 30 degrees, no sandbag unless ooze evident from site, femostop if haematoma/ooze persists. Limb obs and vital signs 15 min for 1/2 hr then 1/2 hourly for 2 hours. Everything is documented and groin sites are never left unobserved for long periods. Pt mobilises after 2 hours. We mostly seal post angioplasty if bed shortage(when isn't there one!) or obese pt or "difficult personality" pt who won't tolerate bedrest for 4 hours, then patient can be sent back to the outlying hospital they came from otherwise they need to stay at our hospital overnight in monitored bed. Hope this helps.

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In my cath lab we use Angioseal and Starclose routinely with bedrest times of 2 hours, HOB elevated to 30-35 degrees with a soft left restraint on affected leg during bedrest. The only time we go longer than 2 hours is if the ACT is high, the patient is oozing or there is already a hematoma at which point we may opt for a sandbag. (Our docs have the same philosophy that dianah mentioned about no one looking under). I have never heard of using ice on the site....the only rationale I can think of for this would be to reduce swelling but I'm not aware of any studies that would support or discredit. It doesn't seem like it would be very comfortable for the patient either.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

At our facility our unit only gets pts if they still have the sheath and lines... otherwise they go to the floor. When they come to us it's HOB flat, leg straight, reverse trendelenberg once they start complaining. When we pull the sheath (after 2 hours and an ACT

We are currently reviewing this protocol to see if it is the best and if not we will probably be changing our policy.

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