We may be switching to Baxter. Is anyone using this needleless connector? Have their been any infection issues, problems with residual drug/blood, or other issues?
We switched several months back. I am not impressed. Pushing the syringe into the device is more difficult and it is easy to slip off and touch the syringe tip to something. It is like the threads are miss matched to the prefilled syringe. It takes alot of wrist strengh was the complaint from the 50+ yr old nurses. Drawing blood through it leaves a residue of blood around the tip that is impossible to clear. It is bulky IMO and when taped down to the patient can leave indentions on the skin. I am hoping soon to be able to demonstrate these issues to our team and change to another neutral displacement cap.
With negative fluid displacement, you must rely upon correct flushing and clamping sequence each and every time, all patients, all nurses. A neutral device does not require a specific flush-clamp sequence. One-Link is neutral displacement. Lynn
You are giving me great feedback but threw me for a loop when you said you wanted to switch to a neutral device. One link as Lynn states is neutral.
I am hoping to hear from others regarding the clinical "likes/dislikes" etc. because our tier pricing will be based on purchasing the whole product line or putting in exceptions.
Opps. sorry guys. My typing is poor at times, lol. I fixed my statement.
P>S> I keep trying to keep one of the caps that I have the residual blood stuck in to it and take a picture but in my effiecency I keep throwing them away. lol. arg...
We are starting a trial in our ICU's on Jan 7th. We have been using Max Plus Clear on all our Central Lines, PICCs, and Medports. The PIV cap we've been using is the Baxter Clearlink. We are wanting to standardize to one cap, so are trialing the OneLink. I want to know that we aren't going to see an increase in line occlusions. I love the Max Plus Clear! But having two caps with 2 clamp sequences is causing confusion.
Ann Armstrong, RN
MidMichigan Medical Center
Ann Armstrong, RN
PICC Lines
MidMichigan Medical Center, Midland
We've been using the OneLink for more than a year on all of our central lines and our filtered peripheral saline locks. We wanted a clear, neutral displacement cap, and no prescribed clamping sequence. I am not a fan. First, the ink on the external package rubs off on my hands. Second, it is packeged 'upside-down'. When I'm changing a cap, I typically peel open the package and want to hold the cap still in the pkg while I twist on the saline syringe. The OneLink is packaged with the connecting male end up towards the package opening. So I have to turn it around inside the pkg to get the cap end up. Third, the male end protective cover is a short open tube which is hard to grasp when trying to remove. Having a little OCD, I can keep my cap sterile despite these obstacles, but I do not think that the nursing staff will take the extra time to protect this cap.
Fourth, if I draw any blood through the cap, there are often (not always) blood specks inside the cap but not inside the center, where it might be flushable. Since it is not flushable, I'm changing more caps. And last, we have definitely not seen a reduction in occluded lines. We are looking for a new cap.
Just a warning: if you are changing from caps with color to a clear cap, educate the staff to hold the cap (not the hub) when they remove syringe or tubing. Right after we changed from a blue cap to these, we had 3 locked lines found without a caps. One of these was a triple lumen dialysis catheter. It seems that when everything is clear, the nurses don't notice when they've inadvertantly removed the cap, especially in dim lighting (like on night shift, where most of our problems took place).
Patti, I agree with your complaints! I have the same issues along with the previously stated issues. The package reversal seems like such a simple thing but depending on how you start PIV, I use the inside of the package for a sterile field. Just try to get that little tube off the end of the cap when placing a PICC line with moist fingers. I was tempted to use my TEETH! ARG.... lol.
We are in a trial right now and your complaints are spot on. I discussed the short blue tube protecting the male tip and the reversal of the product in the package with the sales rep. He basically laughed at me for making a "big deal" out of nothing. I'm glad to hear others have had the same complaint. It doesn't seem that the company is looking to change anything though and unfortunately if we sign a contract it will be for 6 years with the needleless connector only a small portion of the whole pie.
I like the teeth comment. While placing a PICC, I tried and tried to get off the blue tip after priming the cap. I really did consider my teeth!!! I know... BAD MAN. BAD BAD. I think Baxter must not have any nurses working on their R&D.
We switched several months back. I am not impressed. Pushing the syringe into the device is more difficult and it is easy to slip off and touch the syringe tip to something. It is like the threads are miss matched to the prefilled syringe. It takes alot of wrist strengh was the complaint from the 50+ yr old nurses. Drawing blood through it leaves a residue of blood around the tip that is impossible to clear. It is bulky IMO and when taped down to the patient can leave indentions on the skin. I am hoping soon to be able to demonstrate these issues to our team and change to another neutral displacement cap.
With negative fluid displacement, you must rely upon correct flushing and clamping sequence each and every time, all patients, all nurses. A neutral device does not require a specific flush-clamp sequence. One-Link is neutral displacement. 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
You are giving me great feedback but threw me for a loop when you said you wanted to switch to a neutral device. One link as Lynn states is neutral.
I am hoping to hear from others regarding the clinical "likes/dislikes" etc. because our tier pricing will be based on purchasing the whole product line or putting in exceptions.
Opps. sorry guys. My typing is poor at times, lol. I fixed my statement.
P>S> I keep trying to keep one of the caps that I have the residual blood stuck in to it and take a picture but in my effiecency I keep throwing them away. lol. arg...
We are getting pressure to trial. There must be others that are using this. Feedback would be most appreciated.
We are starting a trial in our ICU's on Jan 7th. We have been using Max Plus Clear on all our Central Lines, PICCs, and Medports. The PIV cap we've been using is the Baxter Clearlink. We are wanting to standardize to one cap, so are trialing the OneLink. I want to know that we aren't going to see an increase in line occlusions. I love the Max Plus Clear! But having two caps with 2 clamp sequences is causing confusion.
Ann Armstrong, RN
MidMichigan Medical Center
Ann Armstrong, RN
PICC Lines
MidMichigan Medical Center, Midland
We've been using the OneLink for more than a year on all of our central lines and our filtered peripheral saline locks. We wanted a clear, neutral displacement cap, and no prescribed clamping sequence. I am not a fan. First, the ink on the external package rubs off on my hands. Second, it is packeged 'upside-down'. When I'm changing a cap, I typically peel open the package and want to hold the cap still in the pkg while I twist on the saline syringe. The OneLink is packaged with the connecting male end up towards the package opening. So I have to turn it around inside the pkg to get the cap end up. Third, the male end protective cover is a short open tube which is hard to grasp when trying to remove. Having a little OCD, I can keep my cap sterile despite these obstacles, but I do not think that the nursing staff will take the extra time to protect this cap.
Fourth, if I draw any blood through the cap, there are often (not always) blood specks inside the cap but not inside the center, where it might be flushable. Since it is not flushable, I'm changing more caps. And last, we have definitely not seen a reduction in occluded lines. We are looking for a new cap.
Just a warning: if you are changing from caps with color to a clear cap, educate the staff to hold the cap (not the hub) when they remove syringe or tubing. Right after we changed from a blue cap to these, we had 3 locked lines found without a caps. One of these was a triple lumen dialysis catheter. It seems that when everything is clear, the nurses don't notice when they've inadvertantly removed the cap, especially in dim lighting (like on night shift, where most of our problems took place).
Patti Dickinson CRNI VA-BC
Lawrence Memorial Hospital
Lawrence, KS
Patti, I agree with your complaints! I have the same issues along with the previously stated issues. The package reversal seems like such a simple thing but depending on how you start PIV, I use the inside of the package for a sterile field. Just try to get that little tube off the end of the cap when placing a PICC line with moist fingers. I was tempted to use my TEETH! ARG.... lol.
We are in a trial right now and your complaints are spot on. I discussed the short blue tube protecting the male tip and the reversal of the product in the package with the sales rep. He basically laughed at me for making a "big deal" out of nothing. I'm glad to hear others have had the same complaint. It doesn't seem that the company is looking to change anything though and unfortunately if we sign a contract it will be for 6 years with the needleless connector only a small portion of the whole pie.
I like the teeth comment. While placing a PICC, I tried and tried to get off the blue tip after priming the cap. I really did consider my teeth!!! I know... BAD MAN. BAD BAD. I think Baxter must not have any nurses working on their R&D.