Research for NICU Tourniquet

[alex.IPI]

Hello Everyone,

My name is Alex Birch and I'm a WPI student and Medical Device Development Intern at the Institute for Pediatric Innovation, based out of Cambridge, MA. I'm currently writing a sustainability report to propose development of a NICU Tourniquet to be used by nurses for daily blood draws and IV insertions.

To assist me with my research, I was wondering if any hospitals currently used tourniquets in the NICU or even in the PICU. If there are any, I'd need to know the models you use (simple description would be fine) and if you have any feedback on their general effectiveness. I'm particularly interested in options you may have on buckle tourniquets and velcro tourniquets, but I welcome any other feedback or information on other devices that you may have at your disposal.

Any help, feedback and guidance you could give me if greatly appreciated.

Thanks and Take Care!

[BabyLady, BSN, RN]

I work in a NICU that is very, very well equipped.

We use rubber bands..we break them in the middle and use them like any other tourniquet. It is cheap and does the job.

[EricJRN, MSN, RN]

Same here. This is one area where low-tech solutions do the job. If a tourniquet is needed at all, rubber bands seem to work just fine.

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

Another rubber band user. The problem with something like a velcro band is that it can only be used for that one baby(infection control) and then you run into cost.

[babyNP., APRN]

our baby arms are so small that I'm having a hard time imagining a velcro or buckle tourniquet...we use rubber bands too.

[NICU_babyRN, BSN, RN]

honestly, no NICU would buy a product when rubber bands work SO well for babies. We use rubber bands daily (many nurses don't use a tourniquet at all). For the bigger babies, we loop two rubber bands together. It works super well and it's cheap.

[TiffyRN, BSN, PhD]

Our methods include rubber bands and having another nurse gently encircle the limb to provide a tourniquet. We are pretty happy with those methods and would have trouble invisioning how a velcro or buckle device could be used practically on tiny infants.

[umcRN, BSN, RN]

Rubber bands :-)

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

We use skinny penroses, as does the PICU and floors. We have seen tourniquets meant for preemies, but they would become special purchase and costly, so we go with what we can get for par stock.

[littleneoRN]

We use rubber bands too. We also cut tiny strips off big kid blue tourniquets. Either works fine. Sometimes it's hard to get it tight enough without pinching their skin, I guess...

ETA: Any buckle or velcro would have to have quick release cabilities, just like the good old fashioned rubber band.

[NeoPediRN]

Hi Alex (I'm a nurse in Massachusetts). We usually use rubber bands as tourniquets on the itty bitty ones, otherwise with cut the standard non-latex blue tourniquets used for adults in half (the long way) and use those.

[nakeia]

on our phillips monitors you can use the blood pressure cuff as a tourniquet... just press the tourniquet button says the Phillips inservice guys... but no one has used it since the inservice... everyone has stuck to the good old fashion rubber bands, the blue non latex tourniquets or the wee light