Locking boxes

Does anyone know where I can purchase locking boxes for home hemo? It is a safety device that clamps over your blood lines and your catherter lines. so you will not accidentally disconnect and bleed to death. I can not find them anywhere. Thanks for your help!

What do you mean by “locking box”? If you mean a lock box that you put on your door, like real estate agents use, you can get those in hardware stores. A person dialyzing alone at home might want to have one of those installed on the main door so that paramedics or police would not have to break down the door in an emergency. Otherwise, you have to leave the front door unlocked. Of course, they would have to know the code, which is one reason a service like Lifeline is provided by my home dialysis hospital.

not sure about locking boxes but while on nocturnal I was given “Immobile”, extension set, tubing & catheter immobilizer, manufactured by TNT Moborg (www.moborg.com, email info@moborg.com) . I did not use them because my upper arm fistula has very thin skin and the immobilizers would tear at the skin during removal.
what I did was what they do in the centers, using paper tape I taped first, then using a strip torn down the middle taped the tape, then under the tube, then taped the tape again. followed that with another tape on top of the first one. never bled at night.

Thanks for your help spiderwoman. :smiley:

Debbie, Are you referring to the locking boxes they use with the catheters.?

Marty,yes, that is exactly what I am talking about.

Debbie, I use them with my dad’s catheter. I’ll try and find out from our center where they purchase them; if you haven’t found them yet.

Marty, Thank you so much. I can not find them anywhere. :smiley:

Here is a pic of what I am looking for. :roll:

My wife’s “boxes” look exactly like your picture and are imprinted “V&A Creations” and “Bolton, Canada.” Her center obtained them from the Lynchburg, VA center several years ago. The bad news is that I vaguely recall the manufacturer reportedly quit making them as they were too hard to make.

I know fresenius centers use a device that looks like a wire holder (not sure what they are called) with a cuff that is placed below and above the catheter connection site. They (Fres) will not sell them because they are not FDA approved as a catheter safety device. I have a few from when I go transient, I always keep them.

I wish I could explain it further, if I get a chance next week, I will take a picture of it and then place a link to the picture here.

headbandgrrl

I’m not familiar with catheters - never had one so far. I’m just curious about this. What does one of these “lock boxes” do that a piece of plastic tape wouldn’t?
Pierre

Pierre, They are much more convenient to snap on then to cut the tape and wrap. and on takeoff you just unclamp them and don’t have to unwind the tape to disconnect. The major reason I prefer them is because you don’t get the gummy residue from them as you do tape.

Thanks Marty.
Pierre

Hi y’all,

I didn’t want you to think that we’d given up on finding the “locking boxes.” I contacted one of the doctors who does nocturnal home hemo, and he suggested that either a company named MedComp or Fresenius might have these.

Today, I reached someone at MedComp, who very kindly explained the whole issue. Here’s the deal: This “locking box” snaps over the connection between the catheter arterial and venous Luer locks and the arterial and venous ends of the blood tubing. Catheter Luer locks are standard for pretty much all catheters. But blood tubing is different for each manufacturer. So, MedComp (which makes catheters but not blood tubing tried to make these locking boxes–but they wouldn’t work with different blood tubing connections, so they had to give up.

Two companies, I’m told, make most of the blood tubing in the industry: Fresenius and Medisystems. One company makes most of the dialysis machines that are used for nocturnal home hemo: Fresenius. So, I have a call in to one of my Fresenius contacts, whom I hope can help find an answer. I’ll let you know when I know more.

Dori, Thanks for your help.

As noted earlier in this thread by “Guest” Fresenius has a “non-box” solution which seems to work fine. I keep trying to order them through our regular Fresenius supply channel but they keep refusing my order. They are, however, in use in Fresenius centers. Someone said they do not have FDA approval and that Fresenius has elected not to seek it. If this were the case I don’t see how they could use it even in their own centers unless its part of a research program.