With the advent of COVID-19 , healthcare facilities and staff were strained due to influx of patients requiring isolation practices causing a breakdown in some services and shortages in personal protective equipment
( PPE ).
• compromised .” “ After doing ultrasound insertions for quite a long time , although rarely , facilities did come out with specific policies for it in last few years .” “ No need for extended policy . We have a low frequency of complications .” “ Policy exists for USGPIV inserted by VAT but not by anyone else ( RNs and MDs ) attempting it .” “ Despite literature our facility has no policy and does not require a probe cover for UGPIV insertion . This did not change with COVID .” “ We were in the process of updating our ultrasound probe cleaning policy but waiting for the new research and guidelines to come out .” “ Policies were on hold during COVID , so we kept our current cleaning procedure .” “ Our policy is tight and specific , cleaning and disinfection already incorporated viruses , no need for extending policy .”
These comments reflected much variability but a need to consider and even improve policies , especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic .
Voices of COVID
With the advent of COVID-19 , healthcare facilities and staff were strained due to influx of patients requiring isolation practices causing a breakdown in some services and shortages in personal protective equipment ( PPE ). UGPIV services were also impacted , and PPE and equipment protection required additional safety adjustments to protect patients and staff . Feedback received from the survey included these and many more unpublished comments : “ Very few COVID cases so far , our probe cover disinfect policy was robust before COVID .” “ We followed strict aseptic technic before COVID , no changes needed .” “ No supplies are removed from a COVID room and equipment is cleaned and disinfected in the room and after removing the machine from the room .” “ Often there are no gloves in the room or small packets so as to not waste gloves once a patient leaves ; at one point all our probe covers were being utilized to cover IV tubing under doors to leave machines outside the doors ; this has since stopped .” “ For UGPIV starts we can use either the dressing in our UGPIV start kit or a sterile probe cover . It ’ s the clinician ’ s choice . Our kit includes two disinfectant wipes for cleaning the probe pre- and post-PIV start .” “ Increased attention to sterility standards and equipment cleaning and protection during COVID .” “ Have had challenges of maintaining ultrasound equipment when entering COVID-19 patients ’ rooms .”
While COVID-19 created many challenges , the need to standardize the now common procedure
of UGPIV insertions is necessary . We know we can improve UGPIV patient safety with quality training , policies that indicate asepsis for equipment and insertion , and monitoring of compliance . The time has come to decide on best practices and take steps to implement them consistently across all departments .
Nancy Moureau , RN , PhD , CRNI , CPUI , VA-BC , is the chief executive officer at PICC Excellence , Inc ., a research member of the Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching and Research ( AVATAR ) Group , and an adjunct associate professor at Griffith University in Brisbane , Australia .
References :
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