IVTEAM are going to Arizona

We are very pleased to announce that we have received corporate sponsorship to attend the May 2008 Infusion Nurses Society annual meeting and exhibition in Phoenix Arizona. Check out this blog from the 2nd May for updates directly from Arizona.

Anaphylaxis article

Phil Jevon has published a thorough review of severe allergic reaction and the management of anaphylaxis in hospital. Phil provides a useful summary of issues such as clinical features,  Read more

VIP score videocast

This is my first attempt at making a video. The next one will be better. I have learnt so much. Thank you to my friends and collegues who helped with the production of this video. Click here to view our video wall.

RCN IV Therapy 2008 Conference

The Royal College of Nursing have put out a call for papers and abstracts for the 2008 IV Therapy Conference on the 18th – 19th November 2008, in the City Hall, Cardiff. The deadline for the submission of abstracts is Friday 28th  Read more

PICC patient information

The Rotherham NHS Foundation Trust have produced a third patient information leaflet for IV patients. The first two can be found in an earlier post in this blog. The third patient information leaflet is for those patients having a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) placed. Click here to view the leaflet.

Baxter receives clearance from FDA for ’silver’ needlefree

Baxter receive clearance from the FDA for a silver coated needlefree device. The V-Link luer activated device is coated on the outside and the inside with Vitalsheild silver protective coating. This is said to be the first in a series of new products from Baxter. To view this news item in full click here.

Midlines

If I had a crystal ball I would predict that midlines are the future of safe, sustainable IV care. Why? Well, they are very cost effective, easy to insert and adapt well to new technologies such as safety cannula, ultrasound and IV dressings. But for me, they also define a new era of functionality in IV care. A time of integration. A future with synergy. IV technologies, innovation, people and models of care brought together for the simple benefit of the patient. One major way of thinking we will all have to adopt in the future is the idea of offering patients a range of vascular access devices. Midlines  Read more

POP technique

I have been successfully using the POP technique to restore catheter patency for a number of years. One of the most frequently asked questions that I am asked is for a reference for the POP technique. Which happens to be one of the references that I always forget! So here it is: Fetzer S J  Read more

CVAD tip placement

Successful tip placement of a central venous access device (CVAD) is a crucial element of the CVAD insertion procedure. The holy grail of tip placement is the lower third of the Superior Vena Cava (SVC). Stonelake and Bodenham (2006) have published a very interesting paper. They not only demonstrate the variety of tip locations in which CVAD tips reside they also advise on tip location based upon left or right sided placement. The reference is (you may need an athens account to view this article): Read more

Community IV’s in the news

The BBC reported today that an independent group are advising that all trusts look at community IV treatment as an alternative to lengthy hospital stays. Rather than investing in the report they should have just asked  Click here to view the news item. 

Intervene distribute Surety safety needle

Intervene has begun to distribute the Surety safety needle. The Surety needle is the World’s first manually retractable, hypodermic safety needle that can be used with standard slip luer and luer lock syringes. For further information check out the Intervene website.