How is accessing a Port-a-Cath performed correctly and also why a nurse would not flush

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When a nurse accessed my Port-a-Cath it was very difficult for her to get accessed. When it was being removed to be able to leave to go home a remark was made no wonder it was hard to get accessed it was either put in backwards or sideways. A nurse then told me i would need to go have my Port-a-Cath flushed. I was in ICU with double pneumonia. I want to know did the nurses think the Port was no longer working at that time and no blood draw back would show up? So, therefore they did not want to be blamed for anything. In the end i did have to have a new Port-a-Cath put in because the surgeon could not get it to draw back blood and I had never had that issue before.

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.

Per the AllNurses Terms of Service we cannot speculate on your medical condition nor offer advice.

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Specializes in RETIRED Cath Lab/Cardiology/Radiology.

These would be questions to ask either the surgeon or an RN on the vascular access team, that monitors the ports.

Without seeing your port and actually examining you, -- and also per the Terms of Service -- no one here can offer any advice or speculation.

I hope you have recovered from your pneumonia.

Thread closed.

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