Infusaports

[Irishgirl]

Time after time I watch nurses in Dr.'s offices access infusaports without using sterile technique. They put on iodine and then wipe it off immediately with non-sterile gauze. They don't use sterile gloves and the poke at the port with their finger before they access it! Also, one office has MA's accessing!!! I listened to one nurse tell her pt, "move your shirt over I'm trying to make this sterile." I almost laughed. How can it be sterile w/o sterile gloves? Washing the area with a hibiclens stick for 2 seconds doesn't make it sterile. How are these people not getting infections all the time?:uhoh21: :smackingf

[Altra, BSN, RN]

I'm inclined to agree, this is an unacceptable infection risk.

Accessing a port is a sterile procedure in my workplace - sterile gloves, cleansing the area per facility policy.

Do you work in this office? It's time to dig out the P&P manual.

[nhelkhound]

Wow, scary!! I watched my late mother have a Port-A-Cath accessed at her oncologist office by a MA without sterile procedure and I strongly objected and asked for the office's nurse manager. I was told she wasn't available and that this was how the ports were always accessed. I brought this to the oncologist's attention and he simply stared at me blankly. Oh, that's right, accessing a port is a nurse's job, why would the oncologist give a care? I strongly advised my mother to never use this office and Dr. again. She never did.

[Irishgirl]

I don't work in these offices, but I visit regularly for work. I don't know why the oncologists let this happen, you'd think they would say something. I've heard nurses in our infusion center tell their pts to only let a nurse access their port b/c it's their lifeline. Those are the nurses I want accessing me if I ever get cancer.

[Medic/Nurse, BSN, RN]

:uhoh21:

Absolutely SHOULD be a STERILE procedure.

Mask, gloves, prep - the whole enchilada.

This is a DIRECT route to CENTRAL CIRCULATION! The patient will not get any buggies from me accessing the port. (Exception - Life vs. Death - might make me go a bit faster)

Routine access should be done in a sterile manner. No exception. I guess this would be a good point for patient teaching. And MA's accessing - well, I guess if the MD is comfortable with that GREAT - let there be a problem and the MA will be sacrificed (as well as the patient!).

Practice SAFE!

[neneRN, BSN, RN]

Just the other day I was accessing a pt's port (who has it for chemo), I asked her if she was able to keep her head turned away or if she would like a mask...she looked at me like I was crazy and said no one had ever asked her to do that before.

[TazziRN, RN]

I know a frequent flyer who has a port. I was sometimes called to the floor when she was in-pt to access it and have always done it steriley. One day I was accessing it in the ER and she told me that a floor nurse had accessed her several times using just regular gloves and an alcohol wipe. I freaked and told her to never allow anyone to access it unless sterile technique was used. She has enough of a medical history that she knows when something is done sterily or clean.

[reesern63, RN]

MAs accessing a port? That's frightening. On the surface, it seems like a no-brainer procedure, but every time I do one, I am very mindful of what could go wrong. I guess with MAs it's a case of "what you don't know..."

I wouldn't let an MA access a port on myself or a member of my family, that's for sure. I couldn't care less who the doctor is that's backing them.