Anybody know why INS has done away with the Infiltration scale? It is no longer in their Standards of Care. I depended on that to grade level of infiltration and used the I4 for any amount of irritatnt, vesicant or blood product. In my practice I never see the infiltration until the IV has been dc'd and the infusate is gone. I work in multiple long term care facilities and it may take hours before I arrive at the facility to restart the IV. Its it is a midline the staff will usually leave it in place but the problem is many times the nurse can't tell me how much infiltrated and sometime what actually infiltrated. Seems strange that they wouldn't know what was infusing when it infiltrated. With this happening its difficult to assess the infiltrate hours later. How to others assess infiltrates that are not in a hospital setting with no scale to go by?
Warren Willard, CRNI VA-BC
Forum topic
Sat, 09/28/2013 - 06:57
#1
INS Infiltration scale
We could not find the original evidence for the scale published in previous INS standards. This was moved from the standards to the policy and procedure book, but not eliminated totally. Since the 2011 document was written, there have been other studies on these scales for consideration in the next edition of the standards due out in Jan. 2016. It sounds like your company must do lots of staff education on this issue and IMHO, companies who place any VAD as the expert responsible for providing this education to the staff of the facilities where lines are placed. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861
Thank you for your reply. It sounds like I could still use the scale to grade an infiltrate even though it's not in the standard but in the policy book. I like the scale and hope that the next standards will have an updated version.
Will there be any modified scale for pediatrics?
The work on updating the Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice has just begun. The contents will depend upon what is found in our literature searches. This process takes several years to complete and I can not say what will or will not be included in the next edition. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861