Analysis of the Pharmaceutical Validation of Picc Line Installation Requests at the Nîmes University Hospital

The picc line is a central venous catheter inserted peripherally into a deep vein in the arm (cephalic, basilic or axillary) whose distal end is located at the junction of the superior vena cava / atrium.

It is installed for a minimum of 7 days (1), and can be stored for up to 6 months or more if it is functional. For treatments with an indication of more than 3 months, it is common practice to place an implantable catheter chamber. The main indications for picc line placement are: long-term antibiotic therapy, parenteral nutrition, chemotherapy or long-term venous approach when difficulties are encountered in applying a peripheral venous route to the patient.

Quickly adopted by medical teams, picc lines are not without risk, however, and three complications are mainly reported: catheter obstruction, deep vein thrombosis and infections.

In order to avoid any risk of unnecessary complications, it therefore seems appropriate to target the most appropriate device upstream of the procedure according to the provisional indication.

An inventory of pharmaceutical interventions carried out during picc line requests would make it possible to lay the foundations for considering actions to be implemented with the various services requesting picc line and proposals for improvement for the follow-up of patients with picc line to reduce the risk of complications.