Does anyone have a specific policy/ procedure for IV care of patient with known patent foramen ovale. We currently filter all infusions on these patient but don't have it written in a procedure. The post about the propofol spurred my interest again. We are looking at writting a policy to encompass all aspcts of IV care with these patients and are curious what others have on the books, and what you are doing. Thanks for any input.
There are a significant number of adults that have a small patent foramen ovale and function quite well without knowing about it. So only filtering those with a diagnosed PFO would be equivalent to a substandard level of care for those with an undiagnosed PFO, in my opinion. This is the same as standard precautions. We use standard precautions on all patients because we simply do not know who is and is not HIV or HBV/HCV positive. So we base our level of precautions on the contact with blood or body fluids, treating all patients the same. So all patients should be treated the same regarding the level of inline filtration, given the fact that there is a relatively significant number that are undiagnosed. Sorry but I can not recall that number off the top of my head. You should also understand that I am a strong proponent of filtration of all IV fluids and medications for many reasons. I think we pay more attention to filtering the fluids we put in our cars than the fluids we infuse into our patients!! 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