Oncology nursing forum
-
Oncology nursing forum · Apr 2002
Comparative StudyComparing the results of coagulation tests on blood drawn by venipuncture and through heparinized tunneled venous access devices in pediatric patients with cancer.
To compare the accuracy of three coagulation tests (prothrombin time [PT], activated partial thromboplastin time [aPTT], and fibrinogen [FBG]) performed on blood samples collected through heparinized tunneled venous access devices (TVADs) with those from venipuncture. ⋯ Nurses who have been persuaded by patients or parents to withdraw blood samples for coagulation indicators from a TVAD rather than from a venipuncture should have access to this research-based information that the three indicators, particularly aPTT, differ significantly from each other as to make it unreliable and potentially unsafe to sample blood from a TVAD to assess coagulation.