Good afternoon,
Our hospital has been trialing the protected Arrow PICC catheter for several months now. Before this we used BARD with sherlock 3cg TPS and we LOVED it. The decision to trial the Arrow PICC was made for our VAT and we did not have any say in it. We have encountered numerous problems with this catheter, for example: pt's bleeding post insertion despite pressure holds and stat seal, introducer peeling backwards, obtaining BBE but CXR reports tip to be deep in atrium and needs retracting 6-7cm, DVT's.....on and on. I am looking for words of advice from anybody that has or currently uses Arrow. If you work for Arrow or Teleflex, please do not respond. Thanks!
Kayla
Kayla,
Arrow must be undercutting everyone because they seem to be making in-roads inspite of poor user data. We trialed Arrow at the last hospital I worked and at the time we were using Bard. Everyone on the VAT loved BARD. I personally have no allegience to any catheter but I like the reverse taper and Bard would customize the kit so it was good. Not ONE positive comment when we trialed Arrow. Bleeding issues, they had a poor kit, just all around not a good experience. Me, I was a little less critical but that non tapered catheter did cause problems. Well, the hospital said Arrow. Not one nurse in all the trialed patients gave it a positive review. Just goes to show you money talks.....
Our hospital also use Bards. Love them. We track our PICC"s for infection DVT's, reasons inserted removed, days in. any complications. if you are having such a problem with the Arrow send in a report on the catheter to the company. Your hospital supply department should have the proper forms to send into the company. Then the concerns are addressed by the company, with regulations already in place for quality. Do you track your PICC's for data to reflect the problems? This may help to re-establish the Bard. Good luck.