PMRMD has posted on this forum several times re: pacerview for tip location. Has anyone used this. Lynn, do you have any opinion on this or know anything about it.   Thanks
Sorry I only know what I have seen from their website. It does not look very user-friendly to me from the pictures. But I have never actually seen it. I don't think this company has ever had a booth at either INS or AVA. So it is hard to really discuss without some up-close and personal exposure. Sorry. Lynn
I couldn't help noticing your question : The technique of ECG guidance has been around for decades. It has been well validated (see http://www.cja-jca.org/cgi/content/full/53/10/978 for a 2006 study showing ECHO correlation with P wave morphology) and commercialized in Europe by BBraun (see www.cvc.-partner.com). If you write me directly at [email protected], I can send you representative tracings from 5 cm above the SVC-atrial junction to 6 cm below it in 1 cm increments and you can see for yourself how obvious the P wave changes are to distinguish.
Although the idea of using a sterile sheath or looking at a monitor may initially seem cumbersome, like any new technique, once you've done it a few times it becomes second nature. There are only 3 steps to using the PacerView: attach the leads to the patient, attach the Grabber to the guide wire, and snap the monitor ECG lead onto the PacerView. With 2 or 3 procedures, you will get a feel for the P waves. Using the sterile sheath for the connector is no more difficult than using it for your ultrasound probe.
I have now placed 5 PICC's using ECG guidance. It is very simple and I was able to accurately put the tip where I wanted it to be. I anticipate doing about 10 more before I have enough data and confidence to not need to do the chest x-ray. I will document tip location with an ECG strip. This means many fewer chest x rays and considerable time savings. In this climate of watching every expenditure and saving where we can, this is big!
Sorry I only know what I have seen from their website. It does not look very user-friendly to me from the pictures. But I have never actually seen it. I don't think this company has ever had a booth at either INS or AVA. So it is hard to really discuss without some up-close and personal exposure. Sorry. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
www.hadawayassociates.com
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
I couldn't help noticing your question : The technique of ECG guidance has been around for decades. It has been well validated (see http://www.cja-jca.org/cgi/content/full/53/10/978 for a 2006 study showing ECHO correlation with P wave morphology) and commercialized in Europe by BBraun (see www.cvc.-partner.com). If you write me directly at [email protected], I can send you representative tracings from 5 cm above the SVC-atrial junction to 6 cm below it in 1 cm increments and you can see for yourself how obvious the P wave changes are to distinguish.
Although the idea of using a sterile sheath or looking at a monitor may initially seem cumbersome, like any new technique, once you've done it a few times it becomes second nature. There are only 3 steps to using the PacerView: attach the leads to the patient, attach the Grabber to the guide wire, and snap the monitor ECG lead onto the PacerView. With 2 or 3 procedures, you will get a feel for the P waves. Using the sterile sheath for the connector is no more difficult than using it for your ultrasound probe.