Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Manager's Guide to Surgery's Ambulatory Anesthesia - July 2015

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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J U LY 2 0 1 5 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 3 9 nursing at Physicians' Eye Surgery Center in Charleston, S.C. "It's really increased their overall confidence." Patients are impressed Ms. Blanton's staff doesn't use the technology for every patient. Like many nurs- es faced with starting an IV, members of her pre-op team assess patients' veins Infrared vein-viewing technology increased the num- ber of potential IV start sites caregivers identified compared with conventional visual methods, accord- ing to a study published in the British Journal of Anaesthesia (osmag.net/C2eCsN). The researchers say the technology identified an average of 9 possible sites compared with 6 possi- ble sites noticed with visual inspection. African Americans or Asians and the obese were associated with decreased vein visibility, according to the study. However, the technology resulted in similar vein- finding success in each subgroup. Patients are living longer and will therefore undergo more procedures in their lifetimes, a factor that increases the importance of vein preservation, note the researchers. They also say blind attempts to access non-visible veins can frustrate caregivers and hurt patients. Worse, they say, multiple unsuccessful attempts at starting IVs can lead to infection and the need for more invasive techniques that raise infection risks even more. Although the study involved infrared technology, the researchers suggest other vein-viewing aids would likely achieve similar results. — Daniel Cook CLINICAL PROOF Study Backs Vein-viewing Technology z FALSE START Vein-viewing devices can help your staff locate more potential IV start sites, even when faced with challenging cases.

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