I am looking for some clarification on the frequency of the NC change in home care. The INS standard states to "Change the needleless connector no more frequently than 96-hour intervals." We used to change the NC weekly with home care visits when performing central line dressing changes. We changed maybe 6 years ago to 2x a week as the CDC and INS standards increased to every 72 hours. We have had strict teaching of caregivers to do this skill as we do not always make vists this frequently. We are looking for clarification on what is the longest interval we could go with out changing the NC as we would like to go back to weekly and having our nurses perform this if possible. We are collaborating with other home infusion companies in our area and are finding that there are a range of practices and as a collaobrative would like to standardize some of these in our region. Thanks, Michelle
"Change no more frequently than 96 hour intervals" means you can go back to a week. In fact this standard states that more frequent changes adds no benefit and increases risk. See page S69 for all details on this issue. Lynn
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
Our policy at Sutter Care at Home and Sutter Infusion and Pharmacy Services is to change the NC every 7 days by the clinician. We do for our high risk patients change (i.e. filty environment, history of non-compliance) them 2 times a week but this is always done by a clinician.
Carole Rumsey, RN, CRNI
Home Infusion Program Manager
Sutter Infusion and Pharmacy Services
Sutter Care at Home
Northern CA
[email protected]
We change the needleless connectors during our weekly home visits. We also change with each blood draw which may be more frequently.
Lydia Harris
Providence Home Infusion Nursing
No studies done yet on the need to change the NC after each blood draw. But using CVAD for blood sampling can increase risk of CRBSI. Only studies done on changing NC BEFORE drawing blood cultures from CVAD. Lynn
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