I know there are many of yuo out there that are restarting peripheral IVs after complications etc who are in reality restarting the infusion as well. In doing so what is your practice? do you check the chart for most recent order to confirm that the pump is programmed correctly? Do you call the patient's nurse in to confirm programming on the pump? Do you not ever reconnect after restart of peripheral site? When titrated drug delivery is part of the issue such as heparin or pressors what is you practice? I say practice not what is policy. What is reality here?
Cindy Hunchusky, BSN, RN, CRNI
I can well understand your time constraints, but I would like to present another way of looking at this. If your team simply goes in and restarts the catheter, this is really the same thing that an unlicensed aide could be taught to do. You are not using your nursing knowledge to do any level of patient assessment. How do you know that this patient should be continued with a PIV? How do you know that they should not have some other type of catheter? Even your choice of PIV size and location should be guided by the purpose, type, and duration of the planned therapy. If you do not check the chart for this information, how do you make your decision about what size PIV to place? You mentioned some very critical drugs such as heparin and pressors. This suggests to me that the call to start a PIV is a great time to assess this patient for their vascular access needs and then proceed with placing the correct catheter or get a consult so that the right catheter can be placed. This will take more time, but it will also save you time in the long run. I may prevent you from being called again and again on the same patient. It will save money by avoiding repeated peripheral sticks when another catheter should have been used. And it may save your job from being given to a team of unlicensed aides. Think about it. Lynn
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