We are just redoing our cvad policy. Trying to find a standard on how long to stop infusions before drawing blood. Our current policy says 30 seconds but at a CVAA conference we were told 2 minutes. Does anyone have any direction on that?
Thank you
We are just redoing our cvad policy. Trying to find a standard on how long to stop infusions before drawing blood. Our current policy says 30 seconds but at a CVAA conference we were told 2 minutes. Does anyone have any direction on that?
Thank you
There is no standard or published guideline on this because there is no research on it. Evidence must come before any standards or guidelines document can address any issue. Otherwise it is based soleley on professional opinion and experience of the people writing the document. First and foremost, I would discourage using all CVADs for routine withdrawal of blood samples. This procedure increases hub manuipulation and therefore has the potential for increasing risk of CRBSI. The second reason is accurate lab data that would be used to make clinical decisions. Check the Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice on this to see their list of things to consider for each patient before a CVAD is used for blood sampling. 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 very much. It is a good reminder that the primary purpose of the cvad is not usually blood sampling and that the decision to collect lab samples from the cvad should be done on an individual basis. I think we tend to forget that
Thanks very much
Thank you very much. It is a good reminder that the primary purpose of the cvad is not usually blood sampling and that the decision to collect lab samples from the cvad should be done on an individual basis. I think we tend to forget that
Thanks very much