The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) released an update to the 2004 sample list of hazardous drugs. The 2010 list supersedes the 2004 list and includes 21 additional drugs. According to ASHP [1990] the definition of hazardous drugs:1. Carcinogenicity 2. Teratogenicity or other developmental toxicity 3. Reproductive toxicity4. Organ toxicity at low…
“ we’re just like a filling station, they (patients) come here, we fill them up and let them go”!! This was the response from several RN’s working in a hospital based outpatient infusion center I recently visited where chemotherapy and biologic agents are administered to patients with oncologic and non-oncologic disorders, including patient’s with immune…
A Class I recall is the most serious type of recall. In a Class I recall, there is a reasonable chance that the product will cause serious health problems or death. The FDA issued a Class I recall of the following huber needles: Multi-Med, Inc. 22 Gauge x 1 inch straight Huber needles Model 10600218,…
I mean, my infusion nurse blog is a year old this month!!! Gosh, it’s hard to believe a year has gone by…it’s my first blog-o-versary!! My first blog was posted on August 18, a week after my blog site, infusion nurse blog was created. My goal was to share information about infusion therapy, vascular access,…
Last Friday, a patient scheduled to receive his chemotherapy walked into our infusion center with his wife, both wearing t-shirts with this printed on the front. I noticed but didn’t pay much attention until his treatment started. I was a bit slow on the uptake that morning and the patient was kind enough to explain…
…the devices that allow connections of infusion sets and catheter hubs. Unless you have been living under a rock, no one should be using needles to make that connection, thus the term…needleless connectors. In a previous blog, I posted about an FDA Alert on Positive Displacement Needleless Connectors . After I did, I realized that…
Yet another FDA Alert – this time on positive displacement needleless connectors – a device all nurses are very familiar with and use on a daily basis on patients requiring infusion therapy. The FDA has received three reports of death associated with BSI and positive displacement needleless connectors. Infection control authorities are also concerned about…
What people (colleagues or patients) say to an infusion nurse…. The classic……“Will I be IV certified after I take an on-line IV course”? The confused….In a doctor’s office, a medical assistant greets me…“Hi, I’m Dr. So and So’s nurse…” The proud but mis-informed…A nurse after starting a peripheral IV – “I finally got the vein…
…as in “Resources and References” in infusion therapy? Ok, I know what you’re thinking… with the internet, who needs to have a home library of references and resources? One would just “google” any and all questions/references/resources. Well, I may be one of the few left who still have reference books and resources in my office…
On July 13, 2010, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration required Baxter Healthcare Corp. to take specific steps to carry out the April 2010 recall of all Colleague Volumetric Infusion Pumps (CVIP) and to provide customers with a refund, a replacement pump, or lease termination. According to the FDA, it is requiring Baxter to provide…
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