Picc Line Care
PICC line sterility is a must, and so is organization of the medical supplies.
The best option for long term intravenous is a PICC line. PICC lines can last for several weeks to months depending on its use, and how much activity the patient is participating in. More movement will cause the PICC line to move, or become displaced.
PICC lines are inserting by a radiologist technician, which is usually done in a hospital setting. Once it is in place, you do not require remaining at a hospital to have your intravenous long term. It is a matter of a home care nurse to come to your home as a visit, to clean the area, and attach you to the intravenous line.
PICC stands for peripherally inserted central catheter, and for good reason, it is placed inside one of the peripheral veins. Most of the time PICC lines are only used for cancer patients, and long term anti biotic care.
When I was participating with palliative care through a community nursing agency called Victorian Order of Nurses; I became aware of how important it is to keep the area clean and dry, or infection can set in within the PICC line.
Keeping your supplies in order within drawers can help a visiting nurse reach for what they need quicker. It keeps it organized and more sterile, since nothing can fall or land on the equipment. Intravenous tubing, flushing needles, heparin, saline and rubbing alcohol pads that is required for the cleaning procedure. You can find wonderful drawers on wheels, plastic with drawers. These are very useful and handy to have to separate the medical supplies for long term intravenous care from home.
If you are participating with health care in a home setting, you might begin to get used to the procedures the nurse is doing. This can be helpful to the visiting nurse, since you can lay out what she or he needs before they arrive. This makes the visit quicker and more pleasant for the nurse instead of trying to dig out what they need.
For cleaning a PICC line you would require these supplies.
1) Saline (usually in individual dispensers, this is used to flush open the PICC)
2) Heparin ( usually in individual dispensers, this is used to close the PICC once it has been used)
3) Sterile alcohol pads ( this is used to wipe the access port before inserting the needle into the port)
4) Rubber gloves ( sterility reasons)
5) Hand wash
6) Towel for the nurses hands
7) Two needles that hold 10 cc to flush and close the line.
Laying out these supplies before they arrive helps the nurse to do the procedure quicker. They do appreciate the assistance from participating family members or friends who are helping with the care.
In Canada, a person is legally allowed to clean a PICC line, as well as give a family member intravenous without a nursing degree. As long as it is done from home, and monitored by a Home Care Nursing company. I have ten months experience with intravenous care, wound care, colostomy and nephrostomy care.
For more information of what a person can do from home to take care of a person, please click here.
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ceegirl | Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
Good information
dawngordon | Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
thanks girl, my heart was racing when I saw one comment, I thought it was my abuser, I already had one “you should die this morning” so I was expecting something like ” I am a nurse and do not think this is accurate, this makes no sense to me” sort of post, anything to discredit my information due to envy of the individual bothering me
glad to see it was you
dawngordon | Oct 27, 2009 | Reply
Now I also have credentials and I also have many references from the nursing company as well as some oncologists that I am trained in performing these functions, but I do not teach how to actually do it in any given article
9rty Agisti | Oct 28, 2009 | Reply
Have you promoted this article via Stumble Upon?
dawngordon | Oct 28, 2009 | Reply
yes I have promoted it on stumble upon, I promote on that one, digg, reddit, buzz, my own blog on wordpress, and any techy ones go to the moo, I also when I can place it into mulitply, judging by my stats, stumble upon is my greatest supporter, I think with Digg, people want views they place them in, but not enough people are real members participating even half an hour a week to read others, everyone wants to be that one hit wonder of thousands of views but not contribute, I try to give digg and others a small portion of time weekly to be a real member
dawngordon | Dec 4, 2009 | Reply
I would like to see the diplomas and degrees via fax of the people sending me the nasty comments along with their credentials as well please and thank you,
on top of that, never once does it speak about how to do the picc line flushing, so send along your RN package via fax to me and we will discuss it further
dawngordon | Dec 4, 2009 | Reply
it is legal in my country to flush and take care of all PICC lines now respect the laws of other countries not all is from the USA where people are dying on the street instead, alright? this is the internet freedom of speech, and nothing on this article is incorrect nor is it illegal, so send along your RN package VIA email or fax
dawngordon | Dec 4, 2009 | Reply
and the article is clear Lisa, it states it is legal in my country for these practices to be done, and I can get you legal documents with wonderful references from nursing companies if you desire, that I did it correctly and followed all procedures, would you like to leave your email address so I can get you the references of what I performed?