Oncology nursing forum
-
Oncology nursing forum · May 1996
Comparative Study Clinical Trial Controlled Clinical TrialDiscard volumes necessary for clinically useful coagulation studies from heparinized Hickman catheters.
Determine the blood volume that must be wasted to obtain a clinically useful prothrombin time (PT), activated partial thromboplastin time (APTT), and fibrinogen concentration for blood drawn from a heparinized (2.5 ml of 100 units/ml), double-lumen venous catheter. ⋯ These findings provide important information for practice when nurses have to decide whether to draw coagulation tests through a heparinized catheter. Further research is needed with larger samples in varied populations (e.g., pediatrics) to study catheters made of different materials and of different calibers.