PSJMCOncology

Evidence-Based Practice for Obtaining Blood Specimens  from  a Central Venous Access Device   Sarah J. Mendez, MA, RN, AOCNS     As part of a scheduled policy and procedure review, the department of nursing education at a large urban academic medical center conducted a literature review to  determine  the most up-to-date evidence for central venous access device (CVAD) blood draws. The literature review revealed that the dead space blood draw was the best practice  methodology  because the dead space  methodology , defined as the point at which blood is in the attached syringe when aspirating without flushing, reduced the potential for infection with minimal blood loss from blood discard.     Background:   Laboratory tests such as complete blood count (CBC) and basic metabolic panel (BMP) are an essential part of monitoring eligibility for, and response to, the treatment of patients with cancer   The best methods for ...