Trick of the Trade: A removable guidewire

An essential skill of any innovative troubleshooter in the Emergency Department is the ability to recognize when one piece of equipment may be used elsewhere. For instance, what’s your go-to approach when looking for a spare guidewire? Let’s say you are trying to salvage an ultrasound-guided basilic vein IV catheterization.

Here’s where I go for guidewires:

Central line kits
Pneumothorax pigtail kits
Seldinger-based cricothyrotomy kits

Trick of the Trade

Seldinger-based Arrow arterial lines

Thanks to Dr. Kennedy Hall (UCSF-SFGH EM resident), he recently discovered that the Seldinger-based arterial lines, made by Arrow, have removable guidewires! If you look closely along the length of the transparent guidewire sheath, there is a narrow slit which allows you to remove the guidewire. The added bonus is that there is a black plastic handle at one end of the guidewire which can protect against losing the guidewire into a catheter.

Whoa, it’s like magic.