Rexie68

The lower cephalic and median veins are my favorites for peripheral IVs!

yes, there is a physician in house.....and that doctor is responsible for doing all patient admissions, dealing with any/all critical lab/xray/test results and responding to all pages. (i work in a 312 bed hospital). if the rn is uncertain in her as...

without commenting on the specific advice nerdtonurse gave, i do agree with her point that we're often the ones making "suggestions" to the doc when we call. in fact, the hospital i work in has implemented sbar for nurses to follow when we phone the...

I'm an RN on the IV team......and I carry a pager, as do many nurses these days!:)

again, every facility has different protocols, but we have one of the lowest central line infection rates among our peers and almost always pull lines when they are compromised.

That's a nice thought, but most of the physicians I deal with will ask what we recommend and follow our suggestions. The PICCs that we use (Bard Power PICCS) cannot have new ends applied, but even if they could, we wouldn't do it.

Ah, I'm sorry.....I guess I was thinking of biofilm as being a bad thing, and the fewer microorganisms the better. (http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/eid/vol7no2/donlan.htm). I mean, yes almost every CVC has some biofilm, but you would think that one that w...

I guess I don't understand why a new PICC would be seeded with biofilm if the old PICC (and it's biofilm) were removed.

At the facility I work in, we would most likely pull the PICC and insert a new one. We do the same if a PICC is found without a dressing. Hope this helps!

Hello to all, We gave switched from a 6 french triple lumen power picc to a 5 french triple lumen power picc. The 5 french has one 18 gauge port and two 20 gauges. Obviously the 20 gauge ports are more difficult to flush. Has anyone else out there...

We use the CHG cleaners and haven't noticed a problem.

I would also love to see that article. Of course we want to first do no harm, but there are times that not having IV access causes harm. Just yesterday I put a PICC in the brachial vein.....the only vein available for access in either arm. I caus...

PICCME, Thank you for your input....I greatly appreciate it! Deb

At the facility I work in, we have an IV team and all IV nurses are trained to use the ultrasound to insert peripheral IVs. It does take some time and practice to become comfortable using the equipment, but once you do so it's a lifesaver at times (s...

We are an acute care facility that cares for all ages. Of course, we don't put 5 or 6 french PICCs in pediatric patients.....they would receive a 3 or a 4. Usually the only time an adult patient receives a 4 french single lumen PICC is for home the...

Well, we shall agree to disagree. We certainly don't put IVs in the brachial unless we have too, but there are times that the basilic or cephalic aren't available for one reason or another, either above or below the ACF. It's certainly not our firs...

Hello, I find it interesting that RN's aren't allowed to start peripheral IV's in the brachial vein.....but MDs are. Most of the doctors I work with would much rather have an RN start the line than do it themselves, because we're most comfortable us...

We flush any lumens not in use every 8 hours. Lumens in use aren't flushed until the tubing is changed or if we stop the infusion to draw labs. Speaking of flushing....has anyone else switched to 5 french triple lumens, and, if so....are they just ...

Our 500 bed hospital changes continuous primary tubing every 96 hours and intermittent tubing every 24 hours, with exceptions such as TPN and propofol as mentioned above.

I'll admit I hadn't thought of using the ultrasound to check the jugular....but then your ultrasound probe cover wouldn't be sterile anymore and you'd have to put on a new one. possible to do, just a pain. Our hospital policy requires us to use the...

Sherlock won't tell you that either. It gives you the approximate location of the tip of the PICC, but a lot depends on your measurement. It gives you a change in tone when it believes the PICC is SVC, but the CXR is still needed to confirm. As an as...

I also am on a hospital IV team. We only use a multi-dose vial for a single patient, and all at once. For example, when inserting a PICC, we'll draw up 3 syringes full of NSS from a multi-dose vial for use all at once. If any if left over, it is t...

Well, good luck. I hope you're able to convince administration to pay more....if you are...let me know how you do it! I work in a 500 bed hospital and there are 18 of us who put in PICCS, but we don't get paid more. Hopefully the excitement of lea...

Our hospital has done away with paying nurses extra because of where they work. All nurses work hard....regardless of the unit. What they do pay extra for is education/certification and experience. As a vascular access nurse, I may the same rate a...

We take turns doing PICCs, as part of the IV team.....or vascular access nurses, our new name. PICC nurses don't get paid any more than the other nurses on the IV team, since we're all sharing duties. I may do PICCs on one day then take a regular I...