I can’t, for the life of me, fathom the reasoning behind it, except that it’s most likely a money-saving thing.

Grrr…makes NO SENSE!

added by Da Goddess on 09.15.03 3:51 am | Permalink

Why the hell are we starting single lumen peripheral catheters in the ICU? We often need to give incompatible drugs, give pushes while infusions are going, and draw blood for labs. If you’re going to start an #18 gauge cath, why not just get it over with and drop in a Twin-cath?

added by Alwin Hawkins on 09.15.03 9:08 am | Permalink

There are a few possibilities:
1. They didn’t have any triple lumen kits and put in what they had or
2. Someone read an article that showing that infection rates are higher with more lumen or
3. It was a big single lumen which would be better for tranfusing or fluid resuscitation than a triple.

added by Clark Venable on 09.15.03 9:21 am | Permalink

Geena, the only single lumens I put in are those big 8fr honkers, which are awesome for fluid resuscitation, and you can put all manner of other caths through it.

I dunno who a single lumen, I don’t think it’s be that much less likely to get infected, to cause DVT, etc. My guess is that’s all they had at hand when they started.

added by GruntDoc on 09.15.03 7:27 pm | Permalink

Dittos on the TwinCath as a peripheral. Of course, it’s not one of the new fancy “push the button and shoot the catheter in” type, what with the flushing and larger diameter and such. But when I get called to the floor for the patient “who needs a second IV site”, I routinely put them in. Of course the standard Med-Surg RN (at our place, the standard MS RN has, by my estimation, a room-temperature IQ and absolutely no personality) has not a clue what to do with it, so I usually end up explaining to BOTH the patient and nurse what it is all about, so the patient can defend his/her new best friend, the TwinCath.

added by Patrick on 09.21.03 7:44 am | Permalink

Patrick, not all Med-Surg RNs have room-temp IQs and no personality. Have you ever stopped to consider that some of them just haven’t been exposed to the TwinCath? That doesn’t make them stupid, it only makes them unaware. Perhaps you could hold an inservice and educate them. I’m sure they’d find the information useful and practical.

added by Da Goddess on 10.09.03 12:37 pm | Permalink

I’m a certified pharmacy tech who’s responsible for all the crash carts here at the center of the medical universe. The triple lumen caths we keep in the carts are in a small kit containing only the catheter. All other equipment (syringes, etc.)needed for inserting the cath are placed in the cart separately. This has been mostly a cost saving proposition The kits cost under $20 and the other items cost even less. However, recently our docs have become unhappy with this situation and want us to replace the current kits with those “everything you need and more” kits which cost $60+ bucks. I made up a package containing the items which are in the high cost kits and still saved approximately $35 per kit. However, they are not happy and are still pushing for the high dollar kit. My boss is pushing for the adoption of my home made kit but we will probably lose this fight.

added by Joe Puckett on 01.08.04 10:59 am | Permalink