Are swan-ganz (PAC) still around in your area?

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I am really curious if Swans are still around. In my area, they are rarly used and I am quite happy about that.

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While I was in school our critical care instructor went over them in depth and forever - implying those of us ICU bound would see them all the time. Ha!

Been in ICU since graduation, have yet to see one. Nurses on the unit claim its been 'forever' since they have had one on the unit too. Glad I studied them so hardcore in school!! :bored:

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Routinely put them in our open heart patients except for those who are expected to be extubated within 1 hour of arrival in ICU.

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Yes you still see them. It's very dependent on specialty. You tend to still see them in SICU and Trauma ICU. And then the cardiac surgery population.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I like Swans.....but they are highly variant according to specialty and location.

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In our open heart patients we see them about 1/3rd of the time. The SICU in my hospital uses precep catheters quite a bit. It seems that most of the time with our open hearts we are just treating numbers with primacor when the patient is plenty stable to have the swan removed. Thus they keep the swan sometimes a little longer then they probably really need.

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Specializes in Med-Surge, Tele, PCU, CVICU, NSICU.

Every one of our open hearts have one in the cvicu :)

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Specializes in CVICU.

Every patient in CVICU has one. When I worked ccu I had 1 in 2 years there. Essential for hearts but risks typically outweigh benefits for other patients. Cvp and urine output as well as basic assessment can tell you more than you need to know!

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Specializes in Critical Care.

I work in the CTICU and swans are phasing out. When I first started 2.5 years ago, I'd see one maybe once a week. Now I'm lucky if I see a swan once a month. They are reserved for the sicker patients.

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Specializes in Trauma Surgical ICU.

We use them a lot for our donor pts and the CVICU use them frequently for their open hearts.

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In medical ICU they come in waves for our pulm HTN patients. We'll go months without and then have 3 at the same time.

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Specializes in ICU.

Our docs put them in all open hearts that hit my unit.

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