Parkview first in the state to use PIVO device

Hospital stays often involve multiple sticks and blood draws. Now Parkview Health is using a new tool to help reduce the amount of sticks a patient will experience.

Parkview Health is the first hospital system in the state to use the PIVO device. The needle-free, single-use device connects to a patient’s IV. A tube moves through the IV to the blood vessels, allowing a nurse to do blood draws.

Lisa Smith has been with Parkview for over 20 years and is currently a clinical nurse specialist who works to advance nursing practices.

“Nurses closest to the problem are asking, ‘Why don’t we have an IV that works better for our patient population?’ The nurses have grabbed onto this project and really ran with it and supported it and done all the work for it,” Smith said. “This device is making efficiency better; it’s making patients happier.”

The PIVO device is made by New Jersey-based company BD and gives nurses the ability to draw labs at a patient’s bedside.

“If we have an emergency situation, we can now draw those labs and we’re not waiting on anybody to come up. Those other resources or other lab people can be used in other places throughout the hospital, which is great for Parkview all around,” Theresa White, Parkview Health labor and delivery nurse, said.

Family Birthing Centers at Parkview Regional Medical Center and Parkview Randallia are the first two facilities to use the device. Nurses began using PIVO two months ago with pregnant and postpartum patients.

“Moms that come into the hospital are already in discomfort. If this is one small change that we can make for them, that’s an amazing thing,” White said.

Smith says Parkview wanted to start small to make sure the device worked correctly. They’ve been tracking its use and working with the lab to make sure results are accurate.

“We’re having great success with it,” Smith said. “I’m working with a clinical nurse specialist to see if we can move PIVO onto the pediatric population here at Parkview next.”