Background
During the COVID-19 pandemic, a group of experts from the Italian association GAVeCeLT (Gruppo Accessi Venosi Centrali a Lungo Termine) has formulated a few recommendations for the selection, insertion, and main- tenance of the venous access devices, designed to protect the operator, to ensure the effectiveness of the maneu- ver, to reduce the risk of complications, and to save resources.
The COVID-19 pandemic will undoubtedly change many of our clinical behaviors in the future. We hope that in the field of venous accesses, the positive side ef- fect of this experience can take the form of a new aware- ness of the need to save resources and increase safety even outside of health emergency situations, adopting winning strategies such as the following:
To implement vascular access teams trained to insert any short- or medium-term venous access de- vice, according to the needs of the individual patient.
To abandon the routine use of radiology for checking the tip location and ruling out pneumothorax after central venous access insertion, in favor of faster, more accurate, safer, and cheaper methods such as intracavitary electrocardiography and echocardiography;
To adopt systematically appropriate technique of infection prevention in order to maximize both patient and operator safety during insertion of vascular access devices.