Venous Access

The Venous Access Program (VAP) evaluates all requests for PICC placements within twenty-four hours and either places a PICC or refers the patient to Interventional Radiology because the patient falls out side the guide lines for the VAP.

The VAP nurse evaluates each patient for PICC placement, obtains medical history, explains the procedure, obtains consent, reviews lab work and speaks to the ordering physician.

This Home Solutions VAP program is designed to:
- Help decrease patient’s length of stay in a hospital
- Reduce the cost and pain associated with frequent short IV catheters placement
- Decrease the risk of jeopardizing the condition of critically ill patients being transported out of ICU to Interventional Radiology
- Provide a cost effective alternative to other more costly central venous catheter (CVC) i.e. Hickman, Groshong tunneled catheters medium-term therapies
- Provide a safer alternative to placement of tunneled catheter which requires O.R. and anesthesia risks
- Utilize a bedside ultrasound with micro-introducer to achieve success rates of 85–95%
- Reduce the burden on Interventional Radiology