[MEDITECH-L] Invasive Tubes. Drains. IV's etc

[Therese Ortloff]

We are looking for ways to document the presence of invasive devices on admission;
(trachs,
chest tubes
pleurex catheters,
surgical drains
nephrostomy tubes
PICC lines or other IV lines
rectal tubes
etc.)
I would like to know how other facilities accomplish this. Do you also assess them on the admission assessment or on separate interventions.
Thanks

Therese A. Ortloff RN
Clinical Applications Specialist I
Clinical Information Systems
Alexian Brothers Health Systems
600 Alexian Way
Elk Grove Village, IL 60007
(847) 437-5500 ext. 3926
Cell (847) 354-3215
ortl...@alexian.net

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[Walker, Ann]

We address these on our Admission Assessments and they are also
addressed on follow-up RN Assessments.

Ann Walker, RN, BS
Informatics Supervisor
Wadley Health System
Texarkana, Tx. 75501
903-798-7765

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[Sharon LaDuke]

This is an interesting question, one I haven't seen come up before. Most patients will come through the ER and therefore have an IV on admission, but other types of lines/tubes/drains could be pretty rare. I guess some of the questions I'd ask are

- has the presence of this tube/etc already been documented in the ED, and if so, is there a reason why we have to document it again on the admission assessment at all

- is there something so key about this particular tube/etc that we need a special field for it, or can we have a generic field (be it a picklist or free text) worded "Drains/Tubes/Lines present on admission"? If a single generic field works, I'd probably add that to the admission assessment.


There's also the question of whether it is adequate to simply document the presence of a tube/drain/line......or whether we also need to document that it is functioning correctly and that no complications are present? I would probably put that on separate interventions.

Sharon

Sharon LaDuke
Consultant People

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