Catheter Users

Discussions for Patients, Family, and Friends HD For Patients
1

When you connect for dialysis do you connect direct onto the line or do use something like a Tego Connector?

Marty

2

[QUOTE=Country Girl;12877]When you connect for dialysis do you connect direct onto the line or do use something like a Tego Connector?

Marty[/QUOTE]

Sorry, I replied and then realized this was HD not PD! lol Sorry! :slight_smile:

3

Marty,

We connect directly to the catheter. When we were trained 5 years ago we were taught to connect through a Baxter cap/threaded locking connector which we then secured with a plastic molded safety box. That connection reduced pressures about 4o mmHg so we discarded it about 3 years ago. For safety on nocturnal we use Fresenius Hemosafe patient safety connectors.

Mel

4

Thanks for the reply Mel. We are using the Baxter and it does restrict the flow so much; I was searching for something better.

5

Hi there;

We connect directly to the cathater…
Here’s how we have been doing it for the past 5+ years.

  1. Wrap the caps on the cathater with 3" X 3" gauze soaked in betadine soak it for 3 to 5 minutes.
  2. Extract the Heparin and flush the cathater as required.
  3. Connect the cathater to the dialysis machine venus and aterial lines.
  4. Put 1" plastic tape over the connections (keeps line from disconnecting
  5. Wrap the betadine soaked gauze over the taped connection.
  6. Put the above connection into a special plastic box… (plastic jewelery box w/flip top. It is 2" wide X 3" long X 3/4" high in the 2" side I made two holes in each side to pass the tubing thru. This plastic box keeps the betadine soaked gauze damp thru the treatment 7+ hours (nocturnal patient). In the AM after the treatment I soak the box in a 1:100 bleach solution and wipe it dry with paper towles. It is ready for the next night.
    Have been doing this procedure since we started NHHD and have not had any problem with infections or disconnection.

HemoHelper

6

I appreciate the replies to this post. Hemohelper your method of wrapping with betadine seems to be the best I have heard of yet to prevent infections.
Think I’ll give it a try. By the way did you ever get rid of the air alarms on the NxStage?

7

[QUOTE=Country Girl;12908]I appreciate the replies to this post. Hemohelper your method of wrapping with betadine seems to be the best I have heard of yet to prevent infections.
Think I’ll give it a try. By the way did you ever get rid of the air alarms on the NxStage?[/QUOTE]

Country Girl;

NOPE… Guess with me extracting the bubbles in the cartridge before attaching the heater line the #14 alarm has been happening one night a week… Not bad I am getting much needed rest… also have increased my dialysis flow rate to 3.1. Run time reduced to 6hr 27 min so I increased my blood flow rate up a little to make sure I process the same amount of blood.

The betadine soaked gauze will dry out if you are running NOCTURNAL… so to keep it damp all night you need to cover it somehow… My plastic box does the trick but guess plastic food wrap would do the trick… don’t forget to tape the connection to make sure it does not get loose/disconnected… also be careful if you are using NxStage… the tip from the tubing set if tightened too tight could break off in the cathater… (I had a tubing set that the red line was so tight in the priming spike that when I tried to get it loose it broke off… so now I am very careful when I attach my partner. I just push the red and blue line into the cathater gently then tighten the red/blue connector. DON’T TWIST the line onto the cathater… it might get stuck and break off in the cathater. With the tape you should not have any loose connection at the cathater… I like this method and wonder why others are not taught this procedure… Guess my training was rather extensive and detailed. Had to pass a written and practical test before they would allow us to go home and do it…

HemoHelper