Why would you need to stop the infusion to check for a blood return? I certainly would never recommend discoonection of the set from the catheter to do this. You can easily attach a syringe to the lowest injection port and aspirate. There are no recommendations for when blood aspiration should be done on a continuous infusion. I would first consider what is infusing - vesicant, irritant, pH, osmolarity. Then is it a CVAD vs PIV. Do you have intermittent medications infusing through the same CVAD? If so, you should be checking for a blood return as part of your complete site/catheter assessment before each dose of medication. This still leaves the question of continuous infusion only, no piggyback meds, any only plain fluids infusing. At the very least, I would assess catheter functionality with each new fluid container hung. You could also do this by lowering the container below the patient to assess for blood return and nothing has to be attached to the set. Lynn
Why would you need to stop the infusion to check for a blood return? I certainly would never recommend discoonection of the set from the catheter to do this. You can easily attach a syringe to the lowest injection port and aspirate. There are no recommendations for when blood aspiration should be done on a continuous infusion. I would first consider what is infusing - vesicant, irritant, pH, osmolarity. Then is it a CVAD vs PIV. Do you have intermittent medications infusing through the same CVAD? If so, you should be checking for a blood return as part of your complete site/catheter assessment before each dose of medication. This still leaves the question of continuous infusion only, no piggyback meds, any only plain fluids infusing. At the very least, I would assess catheter functionality with each new fluid container hung. You could also do this by lowering the container below the patient to assess for blood return and nothing has to be attached to the set. 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