At my hospital, we were recently informed that any IV site found without a date would be removed at the moment of discovery. By that I mean, management making pt rounds. I believe in labeling tubing, sites and dressings. I am not perfect and may slip up on occasion. However, if I was the pt that had their IV site removed becasue there was no date, I would not be happy.
In the day of striving for 100% pt satisfaction, I cannot see how this will help. Plus the nurse who has to restart the site, probably wasn't the one to start the site.
This reminds me of about 8 yrs ago when MD'S didn't have their records up to date, all procedures they had scheduled were cancelled. Can you imagine prepping at home for a colonoscopy only to get to the hospital and find it cancelled because you DR didn't have his paperwork done.
I truly believe that all health care should be carried out in the safest and best manner possible. But some of the ideas to make it better, do they really help make it better or just create more work for the nurse and more dissatisfaction for the pt?
We let our peripherals stay in for 5 days if no s/s infection and working properly. If the pt has been in the hospital >5 days and I can't find out from report or the chart when it was started, I pull it. Come on people it takes 3 SECONDS to label an IV site, help out your coworkers and protect your pts
This is of course if they have at least another IV site and/or I am able to start a new one first...luckily for me in my ICU our sick sick pts all have central lines or will get one if we can't maintain good access.
Well, in my facility, we actually just researched this issue. According to the CDC, there is no inherent increased risk of infection from a PIV being left in >72 hrs. We actually just re-wrote our hospital policy to reflect this fact, and as such, the date on the piv becomes irrelevant. Having said that, I do understand compliance with whatever your facility's policy might be.
On the other hand, many, many times have I seen a "seemingly" med-surg patient abruptly code without warning. If some administration official had come thru and removed MY pt's piv without MY consent, and that patient coded, I assure you that heads would ROLL!
I understand the motive behind this but something as annoying as an IV site? Do a bloody chart audit before ripping it out. Yes, I will toss out IV tubing, simple dressings, nebulizer setups that aren't dated. But an IV site or a Wound-Vac dressing? Something that intensive typically has a nurses note about it.
I take it you guys aren't electronically charting? All of our IV's (any LDA for that matter) are documented in the EMR and it has to have a date and time on it before it will accept it. Are they going to right incident reports on every one of them? If I were the patient, like someone else said, there had better be an order, esp if I told them when it was put in!
In the peds and NICU world, we leave our IV's in until the no longer work. I would so not be a happy camper if someone told me I had to be stuck every 3 days. As long as the dressing is intact and people are accessing the line properly, there is no reason to yank a good line.
Perhaps, someone might want to put a bug in Risk Management's ear about this horrendous idea.
Meh, let risk management find out after someone codes between their patent asymptomatic IV being yanked out and a new one being put in. More fun that way!
I agree that it might be an overreaction, but; labeling an IV site is simply part of the procedure.
Haven't seen an IV (or central line dressing) labelled with a date in all the time at my current job. It's in the chart. And a PIV doesn't create an increased risk of infection simply for existing longer than a randomly picked number of hours. There's really no reason to care.
Guys, keep in mind why they are so anal retentive about the dating -- joint commission. They say you increase an infection risk if you leave a line in more than 72 hours
The problem with Joint Commission isn't so much their "rules" but whomever in the hospital system is interpreting their rules. I'm not the only one in this thread whose hospital doesn't magically change at 72 hours. But like every stupid idea in the hospital, instead of someone in management taking actual responsibility for it, they whisper the magic words "Joint Commission" and staff believe them.
In the peds and NICU world, we leave our IV's in until the no longer work. I would so not be a happy camper if someone told me I had to be stuck every 3 days. As long as the dressing is intact and people are accessing the line properly, there is no reason to yank a good line.
Are you trying to say that making a point isn't a good reason?
sapphire18
1,082 Posts
We let our peripherals stay in for 5 days if no s/s infection and working properly. If the pt has been in the hospital >5 days and I can't find out from report or the chart when it was started, I pull it. Come on people it takes 3 SECONDS to label an IV site, help out your coworkers and protect your pts