??? to those with ports & home care nurses

[JazzysMom]

I was curious if having a port makes you more likely to see LESS of your home health nurse when on IV's at home. The reason I ask is because once I am set up for iv's that the only time I see them is for a dressing change which is once a week. The do also do labs every 2 weeks which include tobra levels. During tany of these visits they ask the same ??? & do the paperwork etc. It makes me wonder tho if they didnt have the dressing change to worry about if they would come even less frequent....like every 2 weeks to do a peak/troth etc. BTW I wouldnt mind this since I do it all myself anyway and 99.99% of the time any problems I have I handle or the doctor would need to. Only once did I have a problem where the home nurses had to come & that was my first picc line & while trying to do something I pulled the wrong thing off contaminating the whole line so it had to be pulled. Fortunately it was toward the end of the iv therapy.

 

[JazzysMom]

I was curious if having a port makes you more likely to see LESS of your home health nurse when on IV's at home. The reason I ask is because once I am set up for iv's that the only time I see them is for a dressing change which is once a week. The do also do labs every 2 weeks which include tobra levels. During tany of these visits they ask the same ??? & do the paperwork etc. It makes me wonder tho if they didnt have the dressing change to worry about if they would come even less frequent....like every 2 weeks to do a peak/troth etc. BTW I wouldnt mind this since I do it all myself anyway and 99.99% of the time any problems I have I handle or the doctor would need to. Only once did I have a problem where the home nurses had to come & that was my first picc line & while trying to do something I pulled the wrong thing off contaminating the whole line so it had to be pulled. Fortunately it was toward the end of the iv therapy.

 

[JazzysMom]

I was curious if having a port makes you more likely to see LESS of your home health nurse when on IV's at home. The reason I ask is because once I am set up for iv's that the only time I see them is for a dressing change which is once a week. The do also do labs every 2 weeks which include tobra levels. During tany of these visits they ask the same ??? & do the paperwork etc. It makes me wonder tho if they didnt have the dressing change to worry about if they would come even less frequent....like every 2 weeks to do a peak/troth etc. BTW I wouldnt mind this since I do it all myself anyway and 99.99% of the time any problems I have I handle or the doctor would need to. Only once did I have a problem where the home nurses had to come & that was my first picc line & while trying to do something I pulled the wrong thing off contaminating the whole line so it had to be pulled. Fortunately it was toward the end of the iv therapy.

 

[jenhum]

The dressing and needle both have to be changed once a week with a port, so sometimes they will come out to do that, or if they can't find a time that is convenient for me, I just do that myself (I flush my port every month so they know I am capable of doing it alone). But my doc orders peak/troph/BUN/creatin once a week, so I see them at least 3 times usually. My levels are never right so they always have to adjust my meds and re-do the levels 2 days later....so in reality, I see the nurses 4-5 times in a 2 week IV treatment. It sucks, especially since I have NO good blood drawing veins and the nurses I use aren't very good at drawing blood.

 

[jenhum]

The dressing and needle both have to be changed once a week with a port, so sometimes they will come out to do that, or if they can't find a time that is convenient for me, I just do that myself (I flush my port every month so they know I am capable of doing it alone). But my doc orders peak/troph/BUN/creatin once a week, so I see them at least 3 times usually. My levels are never right so they always have to adjust my meds and re-do the levels 2 days later....so in reality, I see the nurses 4-5 times in a 2 week IV treatment. It sucks, especially since I have NO good blood drawing veins and the nurses I use aren't very good at drawing blood.

 

[jenhum]

The dressing and needle both have to be changed once a week with a port, so sometimes they will come out to do that, or if they can't find a time that is convenient for me, I just do that myself (I flush my port every month so they know I am capable of doing it alone). But my doc orders peak/troph/BUN/creatin once a week, so I see them at least 3 times usually. My levels are never right so they always have to adjust my meds and re-do the levels 2 days later....so in reality, I see the nurses 4-5 times in a 2 week IV treatment. It sucks, especially since I have NO good blood drawing veins and the nurses I use aren't very good at drawing blood.

 

[HairGirl]

Like Jenny said with a port you have to change the needles weekly so if you don't do that yourself a home health nurse would come out, luckily my husband does it for me so I never have a home health nurse come out. I usually go and get my levels done since it's gotten messed up so many times when my home health nurse did it.

 

[HairGirl]

Like Jenny said with a port you have to change the needles weekly so if you don't do that yourself a home health nurse would come out, luckily my husband does it for me so I never have a home health nurse come out. I usually go and get my levels done since it's gotten messed up so many times when my home health nurse did it.

 

[HairGirl]

Like Jenny said with a port you have to change the needles weekly so if you don't do that yourself a home health nurse would come out, luckily my husband does it for me so I never have a home health nurse come out. I usually go and get my levels done since it's gotten messed up so many times when my home health nurse did it.

 

[momtoCory]

When Cory had his port, I did all of his accesses and dressing changes. I have also done Cory's lab draws and just delivered them to the hospital lab. I would just go to the lab in advance and get the correct tubes and then take them in.
He doesn't have a port anymore just a picc line and I still do the dressing changes and lab draws
Michelle

 

[momtoCory]

When Cory had his port, I did all of his accesses and dressing changes. I have also done Cory's lab draws and just delivered them to the hospital lab. I would just go to the lab in advance and get the correct tubes and then take them in.
He doesn't have a port anymore just a picc line and I still do the dressing changes and lab draws
Michelle

 

[momtoCory]

When Cory had his port, I did all of his accesses and dressing changes. I have also done Cory's lab draws and just delivered them to the hospital lab. I would just go to the lab in advance and get the correct tubes and then take them in.
He doesn't have a port anymore just a picc line and I still do the dressing changes and lab draws
Michelle

 

[sue35]

Interesting..I just do regular IVs with no port and I only see my home care nurse one a week for blood and a dressing change. So I guess it would make no change for me.

 

[sue35]

Interesting..I just do regular IVs with no port and I only see my home care nurse one a week for blood and a dressing change. So I guess it would make no change for me.

 

[sue35]

Interesting..I just do regular IVs with no port and I only see my home care nurse one a week for blood and a dressing change. So I guess it would make no change for me.

 

[JustDucky]

Hi Jazzy, I think I know what you mean...When I used to have insurance that covered home IV's, the company I had insisted on coming everyweek despite the fact that I did everything with my port, dressing change as well as my needle. But the nurses insist because they want to see how I am doing with the IV"s...they take my vitals and do all of that wonderful paperwork. I guess they want to see if I am alive;. But another company allowed me to do all of my care and came just to recertify as well as draw blood (even did that one by myself too LOL- was a phleb in my old days before I was a nurse) If you can convince your company to just come when blood is needed then great since you do all of your own care. I guess it depends on the company's policy. Good luck in the future....Hugs and love, Jenn <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[JustDucky]

Hi Jazzy, I think I know what you mean...When I used to have insurance that covered home IV's, the company I had insisted on coming everyweek despite the fact that I did everything with my port, dressing change as well as my needle. But the nurses insist because they want to see how I am doing with the IV"s...they take my vitals and do all of that wonderful paperwork. I guess they want to see if I am alive;. But another company allowed me to do all of my care and came just to recertify as well as draw blood (even did that one by myself too LOL- was a phleb in my old days before I was a nurse) If you can convince your company to just come when blood is needed then great since you do all of your own care. I guess it depends on the company's policy. Good luck in the future....Hugs and love, Jenn <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[JustDucky]

Hi Jazzy, I think I know what you mean...When I used to have insurance that covered home IV's, the company I had insisted on coming everyweek despite the fact that I did everything with my port, dressing change as well as my needle. But the nurses insist because they want to see how I am doing with the IV"s...they take my vitals and do all of that wonderful paperwork. I guess they want to see if I am alive;. But another company allowed me to do all of my care and came just to recertify as well as draw blood (even did that one by myself too LOL- was a phleb in my old days before I was a nurse) If you can convince your company to just come when blood is needed then great since you do all of your own care. I guess it depends on the company's policy. Good luck in the future....Hugs and love, Jenn <img src="i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif" border="0">

 

[luke]

Melissa,

We never have home health come out...I basically use them only for their infusion services. They tried to tell me once they needed to send out a nurse to train me because it was policy. I told them that I didn't need "training" that I have been doing it for 31 years and my wife is an RN so if there is any training going on it would be the other way, they agreed.If you have someone to access your port, (say your husband) you could do everything including the blood work yourself. Remember...homehealth is a business and the longer they see you the more money they make.

 

[luke]

Melissa,

We never have home health come out...I basically use them only for their infusion services. They tried to tell me once they needed to send out a nurse to train me because it was policy. I told them that I didn't need "training" that I have been doing it for 31 years and my wife is an RN so if there is any training going on it would be the other way, they agreed.If you have someone to access your port, (say your husband) you could do everything including the blood work yourself. Remember...homehealth is a business and the longer they see you the more money they make.