Needless Intravenous Connectors

[rj27]

Hello,

Hope all is good :)

I work as a patient safety officer in a tertiary center. We had adverse events related to our Needless IV Connectors (Nano-Clave) that we use to decrease our CLABSI rates. The events were mainly related to occlusions and increase in CVP readings.

I would appreciate knowing from you guys about the connectors you recommend and use in your hospitals. I have included the below questions for your kind attention.

1. Do you use Split Septum, Mechanical Valves, or Intraluminal Protection Connector? What type do you recommend?
   
2. What brands do you use exactly?
   
3. Have you encountered any problems related to occlusions or increase in pressure readings (CVP)
   

Looking forward to hearing from you.

Thank you

Rawad

[rkealy, BSN]

Don't use luerlock with cvp

[rj27]

Thanks

[Julius Seizure]

I cant remember what brands I have used....one was dark blue and the other was clear. Micro-clave? But yes, if you don't have it screwed on perfectly, it would partially occlude and mess up your CVP. Like the previous comment said, we stopped using them on pressure lines.

[rj27]

Thanks a lot

[CNS Master]

Hi RJ

We used to have mechanical valve claves then split septum micro claves and nano claves. We faced some technical issues with nano including occlusions, disconnection and cvp increase. Now we use the InVision-Plus and works good.

[rj27]

Thank you. This is very helpful.

[MunoRN, RN]

I worked at a facility that had a sudden increase in occlusions with a switch to valved catheters and connectors, as it turned out this was primarily due to flushing technique, educating to use a push/pause technique immediately brought our occlusion rates back down to minimal.

[rj27]

Thank you!

[WestCoastSunRN, MSN, CNS]

We use micro claves I think. Very low rate of Clabsi. We change them out every 96 hours or if needed sooner. We never (and I never have anywhere else either) use connectors with pressure lines.

[ValeryRN]

We used split septum micro Clave/ nano clave with push/pause flushing technique and have very low CLABSI rates.

however we recently switched to a new connector called Neutron and have even better results.

We never use needlefree connectors on pressure lines. As mentioned in the previous comments, they all affect the CVP reading.

[arnwest]

We don't use caps/claves on our pressure lines or our continuous low-rate infusions (i.e., dilaudid, vaso). I'm not sure of the brand our caps, but our venous access team has been cracking down on dressing bundle adherence as the biggest source of CLABSI.