Recently found out by way of the patient that some oncology nurses will not perform blood draws from a patients central line if continuous chemo is infusing. Is there any data out there that states blood draws are contraindicated in this type of situation?
Thanks
Sandy Collier CRNi
I am currently at the 5th Decennial International Conference on Healthcare Associated Infection, sponsered by CDC, SHEA, IDSA, and APIC. I have heard several discussions about using CVCs for drawing blood samples and many epidemiologist are saying they have changes hospital practices to prohibit CVCs for drawing all blood samples. This is due to increased manipulation increasing the risk of CRBSI. Anytime you have a continous infusion through any catheter there will always be a risk of contaminating the sample with the drugs being infused when drawing from the lumen used for infusion. If you have a multiple lumen catheter, stop the continuous infusions for at least a full minute, then draw the sample for a lumen not being used for infusion. But there is always the risk of infusion. And another thing is don't draw blood cultures from an old needleless connector because it will have a greater chance of false positives. 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