we have a 2 person PICC team...full time...to cover vacations and illnesses we have back-up picc nurses who are trained and very competent and used as an on needed basis....I believe that placing a picc is like riding a bicycle...however our administrators are requiring our contingent nurses to maintain a certain number of lines placed /per month,(at our facility it is not unusual to have 1 nurse place 8-10 lines/day) or else that will need to take the PICC class again. once a nurse has completed the course..would a nurse ever need to take it again????
All PICCs nurses, regardless of what they are called or how many PICCs they place, need ongoing continuing education about PICCs. There is always new information published and each professional must be responsible for keeping up with this information. Repeating the original PICC insertion course is probably not necessary. Your hospital must have an initial documented competency and there also must be an ongoing competency assessment program. This should be tied to your outcomes. It is usually a waste of time to bring experienced nurses to a classroom to do a demonstration of their technique on an anatomical model. But you should be looking at your clinical outcomes and adjusting your competency assessment program to improve those outcomes. For example if you have a problem with bloodstream infection, you would need to assess all factors related to infection control including both the insertion procedure and hub management issues.
What do you mean by contingent PICC nurses? This is a new term for me.
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
All PICCs nurses, regardless of what they are called or how many PICCs they place, need ongoing continuing education about PICCs. There is always new information published and each professional must be responsible for keeping up with this information. Repeating the original PICC insertion course is probably not necessary. Your hospital must have an initial documented competency and there also must be an ongoing competency assessment program. This should be tied to your outcomes. It is usually a waste of time to bring experienced nurses to a classroom to do a demonstration of their technique on an anatomical model. But you should be looking at your clinical outcomes and adjusting your competency assessment program to improve those outcomes. For example if you have a problem with bloodstream infection, you would need to assess all factors related to infection control including both the insertion procedure and hub management issues.
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