How To Care For Your Implanted Venous Access Port

What is an implanted venous access port?

An implanted venous access port is a device used to give treatments and to take blood. It may also be called a central venous access device (CVAD). The port is a small container that is placed under your skin, usually in your upper chest. A port can also be placed in your arm or abdomen. The port is attached to a catheter (tube) that enters a large vein.

How can I prevent central line-associated infections?

The area around your port may get infected, or you may get an infection in your bloodstream. The infection is caused by bacteria getting into your bloodstream through your port. Infections from ports can lead to severe illness. The following are ways you can help prevent an infection:

• Wash your hands: Use soap or an alcohol-based hand rub to clean your hands. Clean your hands before and after you care for your port. Remind anyone who cares for your port to wash their hands.
  
  
• Wear medical gloves: Wear clean medical gloves when you care for your port or change bandages.
  
  
• Limit contact: Do not touch or handle your port unless you need to care for it.
  
  
• Clean your skin: Clean the skin around your port every day and just before you change your bandage. Ask your caregiver what to use to clean your skin.
  
  
• Check for infection: Check your skin every day for signs of infection, such as pain, redness, swelling, and oozing. Contact your caregiver if you see these signs.
  
  
• Cover the area: Keep a sterile bandage over the port site for as long as your caregiver directs. You may no longer need a bandage after your port site heals. Change the bandage as directed or when it is loose, wet, dirty, or falls off. Change your bandage in a place away from open windows, heating ducts, and fans. Be sure it is well-lit, clean, and free of dust. Clean the skin under the bandage with the solution your caregiver suggests. Let the area dry before you put on the new bandage.

How do I access my implanted venous access port?

Your caregiver may show you or a family member how to access (enter) your port with a non-coring needle. Never try to use your port without proper training from a caregiver. To access your port:

• Prepare a clean work area: Clean the area you will use as a work space for your supplies. Wash your hands. Put on clean medical gloves. Gather all the supplies you will need, such as a non-coring needle, medicine, tubing, a bandage, and tape. If you have a cough, wear a mask while you prepare and access your port.
  
  
• Prepare the non-coring needle: You may need to attach tubing to the needle. The tubing has a clamp that must stay clamped when not in use. You will attach a syringe that contains saline to the tubing. Open the clamp and slowly push saline through the tubing and needle. Then close the clamp to remove air from the tubing before you access your port. Leave the syringe attached to the tubing.
  
  
• Clean your port site: The skin over and around your port must be cleaned before every use. Ask caregivers what to use to clean your skin. Clean the skin for 30 to 90 seconds as directed by caregivers. Allow the cleaner to dry on your skin completely before you access the site. Do not blow on the site to dry the area.
  
  
• Apply topical anesthetic: The first few times you access your port with the non-coring needle might be painful. The more your port is used, the less it will hurt. Caregivers may give you an anesthetic (numbing) medicine to put on your skin before you use your port.
  
  
• Insert the non-coring needle: With one hand, feel for the edges of your port. Use this hand to stretch the skin across your port, to help hold the port in place. With your other hand, put the non-coring needle in through your skin and into the center of the port. Push the needle in until you hit the back wall of the port. Once the needle is in place, open the tubing clamp, and slowly pull back on the syringe. If blood flows back into the tubing and syringe, the needle is in the proper place. If you do not see blood, you will need to change the position of the needle. Close the clamp on the tubing. Ask your caregiver how to throw away the blood-filled syringe correctly.
  
  
• Secure and cover the non-coring needle: Ask your caregiver if you need to cover your port site while the non-coring needle is in place. You may need to cover the site with a gauze bandage. The site should be completely covered by a bandage that does not allow air, dirt, and germs under it. Ask your caregiver how often you should change the bandage if you are leaving the non-coring needle in place.

When should I flush my implanted venous access port?

Flush your port with saline (salt water) before, after, and between medicines and treatments. Flush your port with heparin (a blood thinner) between each port use. Your port also needs to be flushed with heparin every 4 weeks when it is not being used regularly. You will use a syringe to push a small amount of saline or heparin into the port and catheter. Flush your port to keep the catheter from getting blocked and to prevent medicines from mixing in the tubing.

How do I give myself medicine or other treatments through my implanted venous access port?

Your caregiver may show you or a family member how to give medicines or liquids through your port. Medicines and treatments enter your port through tubing attached to the needle.

How do I remove the non-coring needle from my implanted venous access port?

Wash your hands. Put on medical gloves before you remove the non-coring needle. Follow your caregiver's instructions about flushing your port before you remove the non-coring needle. Caregivers may give you a needle container to dispose of your used needles. Ask your caregiver where to dispose of your non-coring needles if you do not have a needle container. Ask your caregiver if you need to cover your port site after the non-coring needle has been removed.

When should I contact my caregiver?

Contact your caregiver if:

• Your child has a fever.
  
  
• The port site is red, warm, painful, or oozing fluid.
  
  
• You see blood on your bandage and the amount is increasing.
  
  
• The skin over or around your port breaks open.
  
  
• The veins in your neck or chest bulge.
  
  
• You hear a bubbling noise when your port is flushed.
  
  
• The non-coring needle will not enter smoothly when you access your port.
  
  
• You cannot pull blood from your port, flush your port, or get your medicine through your port.
  
  
• You have questions about how to care for your port.
  
  
• You run out of supplies to care for your skin or port.

When should I seek immediate help?

Seek care immediately or call 911 if:

• Your heart is jumping or fluttering.
  
  
• You have a headache, blurred vision, and feel confused.
  
  
• You have pain in your arm, neck, shoulder, or chest.
  
  
• The port site turns cold, changes color, or you cannot feel it.
  
  
• You have new or worsening chest pain or trouble breathing.

Care Agreement

You have the right to help plan your care. Learn about your health condition and how it may be treated. Discuss treatment options with your caregivers to decide what care you want to receive. You always have the right to refuse treatment.

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The above information is an educational aid only. It is not intended as medical advice for individual conditions or treatments. Talk to your doctor, nurse or pharmacist before following any medical regimen to see if it is safe and effective for you.