I am trying to find out how large Vascular Access Service Teams are in the U.S.A..
I am from the University of Michigan and we have 1-LPN and 59-RNs on our team.
Our team places PICCs, Midlines, Accesses/Deaccess Implanted Poirts, Discontinues PICCs and Midlines, Declots PICCs and Implanted Ports, and changes dressings on PICCs and Implanted Ports. We provide this for both adult and pediatric patients in both inpatient and outpatioent settings.
Are there teams of about this size or larger and where are they located?
Thank you for in advance for any responses.
We have 250+ bed hospital, VAD team is 3 FT nurses, 10hr dayshift only, staffed everyday. Our duties used to be much of what you do, but admin wants to decrease our tasks to PICCs, midlines and troubleshooting.
I work in a major academic medical center. We are an 894 bed hospital. We have three full time PICC nurses. Our staffing is irregular. We never have all 3 nurses staffed during any day. Most of the time there are two of us scheduled during the week. We work Monday thru Saturday from 0700 - 1730. We do not work on Sundays. We do not take call. Many times we have only 1 PICC nurse per day. There is only 1 PICC nurse on Saturdays. We have the ability to place eight PICCs in a 10hr shift. We place PICCs and Midlines. It's a discouraging scenario. I've been a vascular access RN for over twenty years and your team @ U of M is what a VAT team should be. It's good to know that your hospital values vascular access nurses and nursing and the benefits that your patients will gain from it.
We only have 2 FT 1 PT covering 7days 12 hour shifts. We pretty much covered what everyone has mentioned as their responsibilities. Well since we only get reimbursed for placing PICCs we do not get credit (except for the staff and patients love us) for our time in all that we do. So it was decided to eliminate our meager VASCULAR ACCESS TEAM! Yes they did at are close to 400 bed major medical center in a major southern california city. PICCs now will be out sourced to a "PICC & Run" registry service (I might look into applying there).
We have a slim hope in providing suggestions to how to revamp our Team to show that it is a "profit" center. I will use some of your comments for the argument to keep the team alive.
Does any know of someone in need of VA-BC RNs in the Long Beach, Ca area?
Debra
Debra Rivie RN VA-BC
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
Long Beach, CA
Sounds like you have a pretty large team there at U of Michigan. I feel the size of the teams are influenced by budgets most of the time. I have found that hospitals that had an IV team then backed into PICC placement usually have much larger teams. In the hospitals that did away with IV teams then later started a PICC team will be much smaller. It's hard to sell to a penny pinching system your need to start a VAT and staff it with 15-25 RN's.
Jack
UM sounds dreamy. We are still a fairly young/small program with coverage M-F only. Budgeted for 0.7 FTE with 1 PT and 2 PD employees, though what's worked is much different. We assist w/difficult PIVs, US PIVs PICC insertions and consult on various device issues. Our nurses do their own CVAD dressing changes/Cathflo/device removals.
We have been working to reformat our business plan to show cost aversion/savings - but am not sure we have been saving the right data! Uggh.
Keely Ralston RN-BC, VA-BC, CPUI, RCIS