aepoisson

We are looking at different ways to improve our CLABSI rates in our Level IV NICU. Does anyone wipe down or clean the baby's IV lines daily, especially the part of the lines lying in the bed nearest to the baby? We use the purple or grey topped sani cloths to wipe down equipment in the baby's bedspace each shift but not on the IV lines.

Just wanted to know what other NICUs are doing out there about resetting your IV pump volumes for your main fluid line. We have a practice of only inputting 2 hours worth of fluids on our main IV pump which is TPN or dextrose clear fluids. At the end of 2 hours, the pump alarms and we have to reprogram the pump for 2 more hours of fluids. This is the only pump we program that way. We don't do this for lipids, pressors, Fentanyl or any other fluids. The rationale is that we don't want anyone messing with the pumps for highly toxic drips and accidentally reprogram it wrong and no one would catch it for a time. The nurses want to do the same thing with our TPN or clear fluids line. Less chance of accidentally inputting the wrong data on the pump with less touches of the pump, fewer alarms etc. People against the idea are concerned that if the main IV fluid pump is programmed wrong, it won't be caught for 12 hours until the next shift comes in and the baby would get a fluid and electrolyte overdose since these fluids are the majority of the total fluids. What do you do in your unit? I work at UNC Chapel Hill, NC. Thanks so much for your input.

Out unit is trying to find the safest and easiest way to give IV meds to micro-preemies. We want the baby to get the IV medication in the prescribed time but have a few constraints. We leave all our medication tubings attached to our main IV lines. We just keep giving meds on the line and flush after each. Twice a week all of our lines get changed completely (CABSI stuff). We are not allowed to add any extra volume to our prepared meds. Pharmacy has to do it under a hood (infection concerns). We have to use our syringe pump libraries to give IV meds and cannot bypass it to give volume over time or push in IV meds. Right now, our nurses have been doing their own thing and we would like a consistent way to give IV meds, especially those with low volume. We want to ensure that the med gets to the baby in those 15 or 20 minutes and hasn't been left way up in the IV line or flushed in in 2 minutes instead of the 20 minutes. Thoughts?