dbeckner222

Some patients can not have anymore catheters placed. Their are no more veins/arteries suitable for dialysis. I have seen it happen. There are not limitless times that catheters can be removed and replaced. There is nothing worse than for a patient to hear that there is not other viable locations to place an access.

Hi! I am an acute dialysis nurse and you are not the only one to have done this, I am sure. In fact, I know becasue the very same thing happened in the hospital in which I happened to be treating a patient. The reason that only dialysis nurses are to use those ports, are as stated before, it is the patient's lifeline. Sometimes, there are no other areas in which to put a catheter. This is the last location option. I have seen that happen, too. There is a proper procedure to follow when accessing these ports and if these steps are not followed, infection is a major problem as well as a clotting occurence. Infection & clotting are the top reasons for non-dialysis nurses to not use these ports.

Hello! Thank you for taking the time to read this. I am just off orientation and am flying solo now as the only nurse on third shift in chronic clinic. Techs are not sure of me yet. Anyway, cath patient dropped her bp, tech went over, raised pt's head as she was getting sick, clamped the arterial line with hemostats, floored the bfr to 400 or 480 and gave her almost 500 cc ns. Instructed her to lower the bfr to 200 since she was a cath and the blood was only going in...none going out. Tech said this is how I was told to do it. All happened in a matter of seconds. I know I need to take control in this situation and you can bet this won't happen again; however, is she correct to turn the bfr up that high when the blood is clamped on arterial? I don't think so. Work for FMS, placed call to education, no return yet. Thank you so much for your help!!