The one and only way that stopcocks might be used, in my opinion,
on any catheter may be for drawing blood samples **only** if it is
attached for the procedure and then removed and discarded immediately.
I have heard some peds people talk about their success with using
stopcocks to attach a heparinized syringe to one side for drawing the
initial "discard", never detaching this syringe, then after
drawing the sample into a syringe attached to the opposite site, the
blood in the heparinized syringe is then reinfused. There is some
evidence that reinfusing any blood is also reinfusing clots. I have
never seen anything about the use of stopcocks decreasing infection,
but there is some evidence that they increase infection because they
are frequently left open and uncovered. Lynn
At 2:22 PM -0500 8/8/06, Galloway, Margy wrote:
Any opinions with the vascular access list experts?
Margy, We have a practice question. Some of the H/O units are using a stopcock to draw labs. Their rationale is that it decreases the number of time they access the line- thus hopefully decreasing infection risk. Have you ever heard of this?
Thanks for your help.
Margy
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Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RNC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
http://www.hadawayassociates.com
office 770-358-7861
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
http://www.hadawayassociates.com
office 770-358-7861
