Can anyone share with me their policy for obtaining a confirmatory chest xray when a patient is admitted with a PICC? Also, if a patient is transferred to an intra-facility location, do you obtain a chest xray so that the PICC nurse can safely enter orders for the new transfer? Thanks
our policy simply states a patient admitted with a picc in situ will have radiological studies to confirm tip placement prior to infusing through the line. There are some PICC'n Cowboys in our region and we see all kinds of weird stuff come in. We have to protect our nurses and the patients.
Thank you for your feedback! How about if you have a patient transfered to a "sister" site...so, in network but different facility. Do you still get a CXR?
If we know the picc and the placement history, no. The nurses are still expected to assess the line for patency etc.