Argatroban, PT/PTT, and PICC

[1TachyRN, RN]

Just wondering if anybody can tell if there's any way to draw a PT/PTT on a patient through a PICC who's been getting an Argatroban infusion. I checked with the pharmacy, lab, and house resource at my facility and didn't get a consensus on if and how it could be done. I was told I could leave the infusion going by one person (which I'd already done and ended up with really whacked out lab values) and others told me to turn the infusion off for 30 minutes and then draw the lab through the PICC. I ended up just sticking a vein on the opposite arm, but I'd like to save someone a stick if I can.

Thanks!

[Spatialized]

If I remember correctly, you can turn off the drip for 10 minutes or so, flush well and draw your labs. Even if you have dual (or multi) lumen PICC, I would still do the same - hold, flush, draw. We treat Argatroban the same as a heparin drip and follow the same procedure as this.

Hope this helps!

Tom

[CABG patch kid, BSN, RN]

We also treat the Argatroban drip in the same manner as a heparin drip, however, our policy is that we don't draw from the PICC if the patient is on a heparin drip. So I guess maybe see what your heparin policy is and then just exercise the same policy with Argatroban unless there is a specific policy for it. And just to be on the safe side, I always turn off whatever is running so I don't mess up my lab values ( I don't work in ICU so I'm not sure what they do with drips that can't be off for a few minutes, but in tele it hasn't been a problem ).