Just heard that some places are 'double-wiring' or putting a 2nd wire into the other lumen of a PICC to give it more body. The claim is it helps to eliminate coiling.
Can you please share your experiences and opinions on this practice?
Just heard that some places are 'double-wiring' or putting a 2nd wire into the other lumen of a PICC to give it more body. The claim is it helps to eliminate coiling.
Can you please share your experiences and opinions on this practice?
We insert a second when we are having difficulty rounding a bend or other threading issues. We make sure the wire does not extend beyond the tip of the picc. We keep extra sterile wires just for this purpose so we don't have to open a micropuncture kit.
D. Cole, RN CRNI
I strongly urge against using an MST wire to be placed inside the catheter or to drive the catheter over this wire. It is not built for these purposes and there have been reports of wire breakage and emboli when doing this. This wire is **only** designed to purchase the vein or in other words to advance through the needle to adequately secure vein entry. An MST wire is then removed along with the needle. It should never be withdrawn through the needle and never inserted into the catheter or have the catheter advanced over this wire. It is not the same as a guidewire or the wires in a true seldinger kit.
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
www.hadawayassociates.com
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861
We use the Cope Mandril Wire .018 60cm We also use the Denny kit 5.0 ( for dual lumen 5Fr size) with a 65cm wire as a back up.The sheath is 9 cm long and this works well on deep veins. We use these a lot on our bariatic patients because the shorter ones in the kit were not adequate (generally speaking veins deeper than 2 cm). The Denny kit not only has a long wire,but comes with an echo tip needle as well.
I know this is an old topic but I am wondering if anyone knows of ANY literature (pro or con) regarding this practice.
Thanks for your help.
M Galloway, RN, BSN,