IV removal etiquette?

[pa715]

Two questions:

1)how to remove IVs without getting drops of blood on patients?

2) Do you always glove your removed IV and then throw in trash? I just feel like I will stick myself doing that.

[yuzzamatuzz]

1) Use gauze. You can't avoid blood coming out of a large vein, it is a vein after all. I usually put the gauze over the site as I am pulling out the IV and apply pressure as soon as it is out to stop the bleeding.

2) Correct me if I am misunderstanding this part of the question. There is no needle left in an IV that is actively being use in a patient. The needle is retracted after the IV is placed and a small plastic tube is left in the vein. This tube will not cause a needle stick injury as it is a flexible piece of plastic. You don't need to put a glove over it to throw it out.

[SaoirseRN]

1) Use gauze. You can't avoid blood coming out of a large vein, it is a vein after all. I usually put the gauze over the site as I am pulling out the IV and apply pressure as soon as it is out to stop the bleeding.

2) Correct me if I am misunderstanding this part of the question. There is no needle left in an IV that is actively being use in a patient. The needle is retracted after the IV is placed and a small plastic tube is left in the vein. This tube will not cause a needle stick injury as it is a flexible piece of plastic. You don't need to put a glove over it to throw it out.

Yes, this. No needle is left in the vein, and the tube left behind is not sharp, is actually quite flexible and cannot stick you.

A glove isn't a bad way to throw it out -- saves a small drop of blood or two from hitting the floor -- but it isn't absolutely necessary.

[KBICU]

I always throw my d/cd IV in the sharps container. No one wants to come in contact with it changing the trash even though its not technically sharp its bloody

[klone, MSN, RN]

I always throw my d/cd IV in the sharps container. No one wants to come in contact with it changing the trash even though its not technically sharp its bloody

That's why turning your glove inside out with it inside it is a good trick. The hospital pays for sharps disposal by the pound, and it gets super expensive when people start throwing other things in there. Sharps containers should be for just sharps, nothing else.

[KBICU]

That makes sense actually. My hospital just trained us all to do it that way :)

[mappers]

The others are correct. A used IV is not a sharp. I educate patients about that a lot. It alleviates fear because they think they have a needle in their arm when they don't. It also helps them understand why their pump keeps alarming when they bend their arm because it's a piece of tubing that will kink like a garden hose.

[bagola22]

use gauze, hold pressure, and throw it in the sharps bin

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

Two questions:

1)how to remove IVs without getting drops of blood on patients?

2) Do you always glove your removed IV and then throw in trash? I just feel like I will stick myself doing that.

What are you going to stick yourself with? There's no needle when you're removing an IV.

[fsh1986]

I usually just hold the 2x2 over the IV site when I'm removing it... and if for some reason you get a couple drops of blood on the patient, no big deal. Just wipe it off.

[LVN2RNMom, ASN, BSN, LVN]

When I dc an IV I get 3 things; an alcohol pad, a 2x2 gauze & a bandaid. I use the alcohol pad to help loosen the tape adhesive. The 2x2 gauze is put on top of the IV site to catch the blood from applying pressure at site, a bandaid is used at the end, in case there is any more blood. The IV cath is thrown into the trash.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

I am like a few others here: I use an alcohol prep pad or two to loosen/remove any tape or transparent dressings. Then when I'm ready to actually remove the catheter, I place a folded 2x2 over the site, apply pressure, and smoothly pull the catheter out while maintaining pressure at the site. This prevents too much blood from leaking out or spraying anywhere. After a little while, I will use a piece of tape or a bandaid to cover the site and prevent further bleeding. I do apply some tension to the tape so that there will be some pressure at the site until the patient takes the dressing off or it falls off on it's own. End result: effectively no bleeding at the site.

I don't worry about sticking myself with the catheter because they're flexible and not sharp. I may hold the cath in a glove and remove the glove over the cath, but that depends upon whether I have to put the cath in the sharps box or if it can simply go in a biohazard trash can instead.