Attended the Wisconsin Vascular Access Network quarterly meeting today. The WI chapter of AVA is a great networking media for nurses who care for patients with a Vascular Access Device. We had a guest speaker sponsored by Genentech, Lorelle Wuerz, BS, RN, MSN, VA-BC who educated the group on CVAD clearance. Lorelle did a great job in explaining the assessment procedure for troubleshooting lines. It is very important that we identify the issue as soon as it arises. If the line does not have a blood return it is not ok to use it. We often hear that “it flushes well, but no blood return”. These catheters need to be assessed and dealt with. The longer we wait, the potential risk for complete occlusion and possibly losing the line. We spend many hours placing lines for our patients, we need to keep them patent and functioning. This is the role of the nurse. We all know about CLABSI (central line associated blood stream infections), dissolving a potential clott at the tip of the catheter can help reduce these infections.
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