Central Venous Catheter for Hemodialysis: Changing Your Dressings
Central Venous Catheter for Hemodialysis: Changing Your DressingsPg 1TranscriptA clean, dry dressing covers your central venous catheter access site at all times to preventinfection. To further prevent infection, your dressings must be changed on a regular basis, usuallyat some point during every hemodialysis treatment or every seven days.Keep your dressings clean and dry. If they become wet or dirty they must be changed right away.To change your dressings it is important that everything be kept clean. It is best to have a trainedhealthcare provider change your dressings to avoid infection.In a clean area, your healthcare provider will remove the old dressing. When the dressing is off,your healthcare provider will check the site for signs of infection including: increased pain, swelling,warmth, or redness at the area, red streaks leading from your insertion site, drainage from the site,a foul odor, or a fever.Wearing clean gloves, your healthcare provider will disinfect the skin around the insertion sitethoroughly. Allow the area to dry. Do not fan or blow on the area to speed things up. Preventinfection any way you can.The new dressing will be put on over the insertion site when the site is dry. Putting a dressing onwhen the site is still wet can cause blisters and irritate your skin.“What am I supposed to do when my dressings get a little wet?”“That’s a great question…”Make sure you talk to your dialysis center about what to do if your dressings become wet or soiledin between your hemodialysis treatments. Always follow their instructions to prevent infection.This program is for informational purposes only; for all health related issues please contact your healthcareprovider. Publisher disclaims all guarantees regarding the accuracy, completeness, or suitability of this videofor medical decision making. rn_10003_98 ©Milner-Fenwick, Inc.
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