The red cap fell off my hemo catheter--what to do?

[RightSide]

Evidently my dialysis nurse didn't tighten the caps sufficiently on my hemo catheter.  Because when I woke up this morning, the red cap had fallen off the catheter and was lying on the floor.

I figured that as long as the clamps were in place, that wasn't so bad, so I just screwed the red cap back on.  Anything else I should do at this point?

[monrein]

I would have alcohol swiped it very carefully, both the cap and the catheter end but be sure to tell them tomorrow and make sure that they clean the cath end well and give you a new cap.

[del]

Definitely tell them what happened and what you did.  I agree with monrein you should have given both the cap and the cath a good alcohol cleaning. Make sure they clean it well before your treatment. 

[peleroja]

How the heck did it fall off?  After they cap my catheter they put two pieces of tape around the tubes, then fold a 4x4 around the tubes and put another two tapes around it.  It sounds like they're not doing that for you.  If they aren't, perhaps you might want to suggest it to them.  Please let us know what they say and do.

[RightSide]

Thanks to all who responded.

My dialysis nurse was in a real hurry; she had two other patients to look after at the same time as me, and she was running back and forth between us.  I guess she just wasn't paying attention and didn't tighten the caps enough on my HD catheter.  I usually don't like them tied with gauze, because that gets wet when I bathe. 

I had thought about wiping the cap and catheter with alcohol, but the whole thing looks like cheap plastic; and I was afraid that the alcohol might soften the plastic and ruin the catheter.  So I just put the cap back on and hoped for the best.

I told my neph what happened; he ordered a blood culture and put me on a few days' worth of IV vancomycin as a precaution.  I'll let you know what, if anything, grows out of the culture.  So far I don't have any symptoms of infection.