Vascular Viewpoints

What are some ways we can reduce the prevalence of difficult venous access? Dr. Charles Turck is joined by Sean Lau, a vascular access specialist at Stanford Health Care, to share strategies to help reduce DIVA rates and improve vascular access care.

Difficult IV access (DIVA) is a term used to describe patients who require multiple attempts to cannulate a vein. And since the prevalence of DIVA can be as high as 59 percent, Dr. Jennifer Caudle speaks with Dr. Cheryl Campos about how we can better identify high-risk patients, how we can manage DIVA patients, and more.

For patients who’ve undergone an emergency cardiac procedure, the transition from emergency room to doctor’s office may be challenging. What can we do to bridge those vascular access gaps beyond the emergency setting? Dr. Jennifer Caudle is joined by Dr. Fulvio Pinelli, the director of the Vascular Access Center at the Careggi University Hospital in Florence Italy, to share some strategies for maintaining continuity of care.

Adapting to the drastic changes COVID-19 has forced clinicians to make is one of the many obstacles faced during this pandemic. Joining Dr. Matt Birnholz to talk about how vascular access teams are changing their protocols and roles in response to COVID-19 is Dr. Kelly Cawcutt, an infectious disease and critical care physician at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

Published May 5, 2020

How does the patient-centric experience model for vascular access care differ from what we're used to doing, and what does it actually look like in practice? Joining Dr. Paul Doghramji to share what we need to know about the development and goals of patient-centered vascular access care is Ms. Nadine Nakazawa, a vascular access nurse specialist at Stanford Health Care.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic changed vascular access paradigms in the intensive care unit? Joining Dr. Jennifer Caudle to share her story and lessons learned from the pandemic is Dr. Kelly Cawcutt, an Assistant Professor in the Department of Internal Medicine and the Associate Medical Director of Infection Control and Epidemiology at the University of Nebraska Medical Center.

When vascular access is compromised, intraosseous access, or IO access, can help prevent fatal consequences. What do we need to know about implementing and managing this type of device? Dr. Hector Chapa is joined by Dr. Andy Little, the Associate Program Director for AdventHealth Orlando Emergency Medicine Residency, to share some insight on IO vascular access.

Diagnostic tools like chest x-rays and ultrasounds have been instrumental in detecting and preventing pneumothorax, but is one approach better than another? Dr. Rachel Liu is here to answer that question and more.

While peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) and centrally inserted central catheters (CICCs) are commonly used to administer intravenous therapy, they can cause serious complications, such as deep vein thrombosis (DVT) and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI). With these risks in mind, Drs. Gregory Schears and Paolo Balsorano share the latest research on DVT and CLABSI outcomes associated with the use of PICCs and CICCs.

Which drugs are peripherally compatible, which infusion timelines should be observed, and which infusate properties increase complication risks are some of the most common confusion points around catheter failure risks. To help us sort through them, Dr. Marcia Ryder joins Dr. Matt Birnholz to discuss her study on risk factors for midline catheter failures.