I recently discovered we have no official policy on holding heparin if drawing PTT from the same arm as the heparin infusion. Several of the phlebotomists have been waiting 30 min, which is way too long given heparin's short half life. Do any of you have policies at your hospitals? If so, what do they suggest?
You will find many hospitals and academic medical centers have their heparin protocol on Google. Just do a search using heparin protocol and they will all come up and you can compare multiple ones.
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
Thank you for your response. I have actually spent 3 weeks googling it and have only come up with one hospital in Ohio. It was a lab protocol from 2016. However, I need several in order to present it to the lab director.
hello Tonya
our policy in our hospital is ( INR = 3 or less)
platelets = 25 or high
if the heparin is subcutaneous, we do not stop it
if the heparin is iv we stop it 30 min before the procedure unless medically override
Ibraheem Aljediea
Johns Hopkins aramco Healthcare
Saudi Arabia