I had a patient last night who was very busy. Several continuous infusions, several IV meds, in constant need of blood products, and overall very sick. He had a double lumen central line and I was having a very hard time keeping up with his meds and avoiding running incompatible drugs together. I kept telling him we may need to add a peripheral IV, but things would clear up just enough that I could avoid it for a few more hours. Finally when he needed his 4th unit of blood for the night I told him I gave up, and he really needed more IV access and I'd be starting a peripheral.
"Can you just use my mediport?" came his response. I hadn't had a chance to read back in his chart much, but when he pulled his gown to the side, yep, sure as the light of day, there it is, a beautiful unused mediport. He said he didn't mind using it at all.
So patients, if your nurses is frazzled trying to keep up with IV meds, feel free to mention any hiding central access you have
And now I get to keep my trend of never starting a peripheral IV.
