Had a staff meeting yesterday and we were told we no longer require a consent for PICC insertion, because it is not considered invasive. Sated it was covered in Hospital policy. What is everyone else doing? are you getting a seperate consent or are you covered under the general hospital consent for treatment?
Also, we have this ongoing discussion about upper arm measurement What to do with it, How often it has to be done. I don't do it, but one of the younger ladies on the team insists that we do it. My feeling is if the patient is symptomatic pain with no edema, you are still going to question DVT and get a doppler. Am I on the right track? Right now we do nothing with the arm measurement after its done. If the arm swells, yes we get an order for doppler
Thanks, Nancy
Regarding the informed consent - I am assuming that you are referring to a piece of paper that the patient must sign. This is a formality that many risk managers no longer say is needed for PICCs. However, informed consent is so much more than this paper. It involves education of the what, when, why, and how, along with the alternatives. Informed consent can never go away. A signed paper for the procedure could.
Regarding arm measurement - get a baseline measurement before insertion, then repeat it if clinical signs and symptoms indicate that there could be a problem. Routine measurement is no longer needed because there are so many variables in how the measurement is taken and it was not producing any useful information.
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