Our patients' care is the same in or out of our hospital. We put new caps on when ever they are taken off, which would mainly be to infuse blood or to draw blood for lab (also clean hubs c alcohol prior to connecting the cap or syringe). Otherwise we change the caps q 7 days along with drsg change. So our policy is written to 'change drsg q 7 days and prn'; 'change cap with drsg, and with blood infusion or draw'. Caked blood, dried on caps (caused by getting/giving blood through caps) is a haven for bacteria and so you wouldn't keep them on, you would (should)take them off...you wouldn't put an old one back on so the only option left is putting a new sterile cap on. We do this hospital wide, in our community and with patients that we see that come into the area with a central line... We (our picc team) also help out by doing all the out pt central line lab draws in our hospital lab and some of the patients are very critical and protective of their lines, they make sure that care is done the way they were told and are happy when they see consistency...some even bring a ziplock baggy of extra caps with them just to make sure.
-----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Robert Nohavec Sent: Tuesday, April 11, 2006 10:23 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED]; [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Re: cap change policy Freda. Are you looking at the CDC MMWR report from 2002? The statement does not state every 72 hrs. It states "1. Change the needleless components at least as frequently as the administration set Catagory II" and "2. Change caps no more frequently than every 72 hours or according to the manufactures recommendations". Am I missing something? Would like more input on this form others. In addition I have had many individuals state theat the CDC states to change with every blood draw (reps of the products) Do other change the caps with every blood draw? I would like this info from both inpatients facilitys and outpatient Thanks Robert Nohavec RN CNC University Helath Care Vascular Access Home infusion services >>> "Freda" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> 4/11/2006 10:08:24 AM >>> I have been working on Best Practices for our organization regarding VAD care.The issue of changing caps is under discussion. According to CDC rec's they should be changed every 72 hours, however our org and others' policy is to change them every 7 days.I cannot find any literature on what the 7 day policy is based on. We are using the CLC2000, but some client's come with non-positive pressure caps and the policy is the same for them. If your org changed from q7days to q72 hours, what evidence was used to support the change? Freda Seddon Victorian Order of Nurses, Peterborough, Ontario
