Left Ventricular Assist Device (LVAD) Associated Complications LVADs are the standard of care for patients with advanced heart failure. LVAD placement is a relatively common procedure, with more than 2,000 LVAD implants recorded each year over the past ten years in the United States alone.1 Complications that LVAD patients may experience during treatment include severe…
3 Questions with Jon Bell, RN, MSN, VA-BC 3 Questions With… features some of the finest thought leaders in healthcare specialties such as Infection Prevention, Vascular Access, Surgical Care and more. These experts answer questions on the latest insights, evidence and current practices. For our newest “3 Questions With…” vlog, Eloquest Healthcare is proud to…
Michelle DeVries, MPH, CIC, VA-BC, recently gave a webinar titled “Putting the Standards into Practice… and Not Stopping There!” With more than 25 years of experience, Michelle is an expert in the field of infection prevention with a focus on vascular access. Here, we’ve summarized some of the main points of her presentation. View the…
3 Questions with Edward Korycka, RN 3 Questions With… features some of the finest thought leaders in healthcare specialties such as Infection Prevention, Vascular Access, Surgical Care and more. These experts answer questions on the latest insights, evidence and current practices. For our newest “3 Questions With…” vlog, Eloquest Healthcare is proud to feature Edward…
In celebration of IV Nurses Day taking place this week on Tuesday, January 25th, we felt it timely to review our favorite 3 Questions with… vlog segments including notable thought leaders in the world of vascular access. If you’re not familiar, 3 Questions with… features some of the finest thought leaders in healthcare specialties answering…
Maintaining Dressing Integrity to Prevent Infection Maintaining clean, dry, intact dressings over vascular access devices (VADs) is fundamental to site care. The 2021 Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice recommend that transparent dressings be changed at least every 7 days. However, if the dressing is disrupted ‐ meaning loose, wet, or soiled – the standards recommend…
Mechanical Circulatory Support to Manage Heart Failure Heart failure is a significant cause of morbidity and mortality that affects approximately 26 million patients worldwide, with rates continuing to climb.¹ Mechanical circulatory support (MCS) is an intervention to manage heart failure, often serving as bridge to transplantation (BTT) by providing acceptable quality of life for patients…
Adhesive Products are Common in Healthcare Adhesive products are staples of patient care. Inpatients are commonly exposed to a variety of adhesive products throughout their treatment duration. A study by Farris, et. al found that the median number of products per subject was 6.25 for patients in a cardiac‐telemetry unit and 3.0 for patients in…
Guidelines for Dressing Wear Time and Maintenance Guidelines for vascular access dressings focus on improving both wear time and dressing integrity. Maintaining intact dressings is important for preventing infection and minimizing risk of skin injury. It can also reduce unnecessary dressing changes and help wear time more closely match standard parameters. According to the 2021…
A Common Procedure with Prevalent Complications Vascular access is the most common inpatient invasive procedure, with more than 300 million peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs) sold in the United States each year to meet this demand.¹ Yet, this seemingly routine procedure has a failure rate of 35-50%.¹ Vascular access device failure can result in severe adverse events…