We have been using the single lumen 4.5fr Evolution PICC for most of this year and have been very pleased with it. We have had no CLABSI's in patients with this PICC and only one patient with an previously unknown but developed sensitivity to Chlorhexadine. Since this sensitivity only manifested under the Chlorhexadine dressing with insertion site reaction but no problem upstream, it was thought to be the dressing he reacted to. The other pro is that it is very unusual for patients with the evolution PICC to develop occlusions. For example, I placed an Evolution PICC in a patient who was then discharged to a long term care facility for IV antibiotic administration. He was there for a week and then discharged with his PICC to home. The only part of his PICC education that he remembered from the hospital was not to get the dressing wet. He carefully observed this rule at home for two weeks. He then came into the ER for another issue and they discovered his PICC. I was called to evaluate it because it seemed to be clotted. It still had the original dressing on it from when I inserted it. It didn't draw or flush so I used cath flow and it declotted in about 5 minutes.
We love this PICC and usie it on all patients for whom a single lumen is appropriate and therapy is likely to exceed a week. I am excited that the double lumen is coming out soon because we will use it on all TPN patients. It is a little "sticker" and feels a little different on insertion but it has not been an issue. I really couldn't say it has any cons.
Thank you for the feedback. What size hospital do you serve and how many PICCs are inserted monthly? The 5.5fr DL Arrow Evolution has been available for quite a while: have used them for about 3/4 of a year. If you are only inserting SL Arrow Evolution for your patients, what other PICCs do you use? How many SL Arrow Evolution PICCs would you say has your institution inserted? Again, thank you!
I work at a 630 bed hospital and we have been using the Evolution PICC's for about 3 months but we trialed it before that. We use both the 4.5 and 5.5 sizes. We insert between 150 to 200 PICC's per month. We like the antimicrobial and anti-thrombolytic properties. We find them much easier to insert and have less malpositions than when we used the Cook antimicrobial lines. (we hated those lines!). The kit is very user friendly. The only negatives are that they bleed more than the regular arrow PICC's and the introducer is much stiffer and you must make a skin nick where you do not with the regular arrow's. We are hoping to start using Bioseal to help with the bleeding aspect. We are much happier with the Evolution than the Cook!
We have been using the single lumen 4.5fr Evolution PICC for most of this year and have been very pleased with it. We have had no CLABSI's in patients with this PICC and only one patient with an previously unknown but developed sensitivity to Chlorhexadine. Since this sensitivity only manifested under the Chlorhexadine dressing with insertion site reaction but no problem upstream, it was thought to be the dressing he reacted to. The other pro is that it is very unusual for patients with the evolution PICC to develop occlusions. For example, I placed an Evolution PICC in a patient who was then discharged to a long term care facility for IV antibiotic administration. He was there for a week and then discharged with his PICC to home. The only part of his PICC education that he remembered from the hospital was not to get the dressing wet. He carefully observed this rule at home for two weeks. He then came into the ER for another issue and they discovered his PICC. I was called to evaluate it because it seemed to be clotted. It still had the original dressing on it from when I inserted it. It didn't draw or flush so I used cath flow and it declotted in about 5 minutes.
We love this PICC and usie it on all patients for whom a single lumen is appropriate and therapy is likely to exceed a week. I am excited that the double lumen is coming out soon because we will use it on all TPN patients. It is a little "sticker" and feels a little different on insertion but it has not been an issue. I really couldn't say it has any cons.
Thank you for the feedback. What size hospital do you serve and how many PICCs are inserted monthly? The 5.5fr DL Arrow Evolution has been available for quite a while: have used them for about 3/4 of a year. If you are only inserting SL Arrow Evolution for your patients, what other PICCs do you use? How many SL Arrow Evolution PICCs would you say has your institution inserted? Again, thank you!
Artie Hansford, BSN, CRNI, VA-BC
I work at a 630 bed hospital and we have been using the Evolution PICC's for about 3 months but we trialed it before that. We use both the 4.5 and 5.5 sizes. We insert between 150 to 200 PICC's per month. We like the antimicrobial and anti-thrombolytic properties. We find them much easier to insert and have less malpositions than when we used the Cook antimicrobial lines. (we hated those lines!). The kit is very user friendly. The only negatives are that they bleed more than the regular arrow PICC's and the introducer is much stiffer and you must make a skin nick where you do not with the regular arrow's. We are hoping to start using Bioseal to help with the bleeding aspect. We are much happier with the Evolution than the Cook!