Arterial lines

arterialcannulation arteriallines cannulation education invasivebloodpressuremonitoring Oct 23, 2023

Arterial lines can be tricky! As a team, there are few things that can increase your success rate and minimise patient distress… 😊

1. Anticipate the difficult ones:

👉🏻Narrow arteries (very young, very old, disease states)
👉🏻Poor perfusion (Low blood pressure or peripheral vasoconstriction)
👉🏻Vasospasm/haematoma (previous attempts)
👉🏻Calcified arteries (age, vascular disease)
👉🏻Operator issues (lack of experience, equipment failure)
👉🏻Uncooperative patients

2. Be ready to go

✔️Ensure the pressure transducer set is primed and ready
✔️Reassure the patient and try to keep them relaxed & calm. If sedation is given, consider oxygen and monitoring.
✔️Be ready with the next device, this might be:
👉🏻A back up of the same cannula
👉🏻A smaller cannula (ie 22g)
👉🏻A guidewire
👉🏻An ultrasound machine

Build knowledge ✅
Improve safety ✅

Ref: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/books/NBK482242/

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