Q&A – Implanted Venous Ports

Recently, I have had a few questions regarding implanted ports so I decided to post it here in the spirit of sharing and learning . Q:  A patient asked:  why is it that sometimes my nurse wears a mask to access my port and sometimes they don’t? Should they or should they not wear a…

It’s that time of year….

December 25…a day to celebrate Christmas or that special holiday you celebrate! Many people are off from work taking time to celebrate with loved ones, friends, and family.  Many are working to keep us safe or away at war striving to protect our country and to care for those who are ill. That includes nurses and…

Bloody Halloween!!!

Today is Halloween and while it’s my favorite “unofficial” holiday, I am wimp when it comes to scary movies and  I don’t care for people’s costumes with blood, guts, and gore.  No, not because I’m scared but as a nurse, I’ve seen my fair share. But as an infusion nurse, I love seeing blood!! Ok,…

IV policies and procedures..

..many facilities/organizations have them, some don’t. Many nurses know what their IV policies and procedures are, others don’t have a clue or don’t even know they should have one. Others say…yeah, we do have them  but here’s what we do! Borrowed from a previous post- “Terms of Confusion” about  Policies and Procedures: Policies are the established rules…

Poll Results: Gloves vs no gloves during vein palpation

The poll results are in: 1.  Do you think an RN should wear gloves when palpating for veins prior to venipuncture? Yes:  47 Votes    42% No:  65 Votes     58% 112 readers took the poll, and 58% said they think an RN should not wear gloves when palpating veins prior to venipuncture. 47% said they…

Infection from an IV catheter…

can lead to a lawsuit!! Yes, according to a news article, a medical malpractice lawsuit filed late last month accuses nurses and health care providers of negligence by giving the patient “an IV tainted with streptococcus pyogenes” — bacteria commonly associated with strep throat. Click here for more info. The harm – following the removal of…

Outsource or In House?

I’m sure no one will be surprised to hear that many services in acute care and outpatient settings are outsourced to individuals or organizations who specialized in certain tasks or services. One of these outsourced services include vascular access device insertion, in particular PICC insertions. There are several independent companies and/or  individuals who provide PICC insertion service, many…

FYI….Free!

Register to attend a FREE webinar on January 24, 2012 and receive 1.0 contact hours in nursing. Topic: Are you there yet? Integrating Infusion Nursing Standards into Your Practice The Infusion Nursing Standards of Practice are applicable to nurses providing infusion therapy across all healthcare settings. Whether you care for patients with vascular access requiring…

Welcome 2012…

2011 went by so fast and just like most of you, I can’t believe it’s already 2012. 2011 was a good year f0r me professionally and an equally good year for this blog as well. Through this blog, I have met so many wonderful individuals,  learned so much from them, and very grateful for their…

Just something to think about…

This maybe old news to some…but others may have missed it… Infiltration: Checking for blood return or back flow of blood is good for patency but not a reliable method for assessing infiltration at IV site. If infusion continues to run when you apply digital pressure 3 inches above peripheral IV site in front of…