Blood draws from a PICC/midline

[HyperRNRachel]

I am having a bit of difficulty drawing blood from a midline. I flush with 10 cc of normal saline(no problems), but when I start to pull my waste I do not get a return. I have had this happen twice. Has this happened to anyone else? Am I doing something wrong? Any tips of the trade? Will the questions never end?

Rachel RN

[steelcityrn, RN]

Zach.....a midline is nothing more that a longer iv catheter, but its the placement and stability. If you ever pulled one, you would see that its only for short term iv use, great for a run of antibiotics at home. Not stable or strong enough to support drawing blood. Think about it this way, we do not draw blood from peripheral iv's....

[bonesrn]

Zach...SteelcityRN is right...the ONLY time you can get blood from a peripheral site is IMMEDIATELY after insertion and BEFORE you flush with NSS. a midline is a peripheral cath on steriods. PICCs end in the SVC which is why we can use them for draws.

[unknown99, BSN, RN]

Any place I have worked, we never did draws from a midline. Piccs--yes. Mid-lines-No.

[Zachary2011]

Thanks for the information but we do draw from peripheral sites often, I work in an ER and many times redraw from IV sites for labs, ie: cardiac markers, cardiac enzymes, redraw of potassium following treatment of hyperkalemia, hourly surveys for DKA while on D5 and insulin gtts..etc. When I was in ICU we also would draw from peripheral sites if able, granted there are times when you can only get the draw upon first insertion but if located in the AC you can many times draw from them daily. Of course through all this I discard the waste and obviously never draw from a gtt or fluid site or draw from a site above med administration. Thanx all, Zachary