An associate told me today about an article she read in National Home Infusion Association Journal (Jan-Feb)that claims that results of aminoglycoside peak and trough levels can be skewed if drawn from PICC catheters. in our acute care facility these levels are frequently drawn from PICCs, as are Vanco levels. Is this something that we should be concerned about?
Here at our facility, there was a movement began, if I'm not mistaken, by our own laboratory department related to this. Though I wasn't present for any information coming straight from the presenters, what I recall being told second hand though was that there were a number of cases where not only drug levels, but other common laboratory tests where varying drastically from those drawn peripherally via direct venapuncture. I believe I remember hearing that some of these where so different that there was concern that maybe the specimens had been mislabeled as there just wasn't any other way the results could be so different in such a short period of time between the two samples. So, the theme of this "campaign" was to highly discourage the practice of sampling from lines in general (not only PICCs as I understood). We don't formally have a policy prohibiting sampling from lines of course, but just an educational process highlighting the very real possibility of unreliable results when doing so...encouraging staff to draw peripherally when able to...especially for critical tests.
Brian Gackenbach RN, BSN, CRNI
University of Louisville Hospital
brianga(at)ulh(dot)org
Brian Gackenbach RN, BSN, CRNI
University of Louisville Hospital
brianga(at)ulh(dot)org