staph infection of catheter

[dialysisadvocate]

My opinion is the following:

Patients should be educated as to what procedures/practices staff will be implementing, e.g. infection control related to catheters. In my review of inspection (surveys) reports, I continue to be astonished as the significant numbers of Registered Nurses who do not implement correct practices, according to their own facility's policies and procedures. If staff are aware of step-by-step procedure of catheter infection prevention, then patients can be, as they are suppose to, PART OF THE TEAM. Patients can remind staff if they (patient) observe an incorrect practice. However, staff must buy-into the fact that the patient has a right to know the correct procedure and the patient has a right to remind staff if a wrong practice is being implemented. It is a team approach, however, many staff become defensive when informed they have implemented a wrong practices. I often wonder if staff truly understand the extend of negative consequences that patients experience as a lack of their (staff) implementing incorrect practices. Of course, without adequate effective unit level supervision, what can one expect. To have RNs who don't understand, well, shame on them
Roberta Mikles BA RN Dialysis Patient Safety Advocate
www.qualitysafepatientcare.com

[RightSide]

"There are certain things that staff must do. I have observed, many times, RNs who put on gloves without hand hygiene (washing hands), they then touch contaminated surfaces e.g. treatment cart, machines, etc then go to touch the patients access site area/catheter with contaminated gloves."

Happened to me.  A tech put on her gloves to ready herself to cannulate me.  But there was a trash can in her way. So she just moved it--with her gloved hands--and then attempted to cannulate me.  I absolutely refused unless she changed her gloves first.  She got mad.  I took that issue to the head nurse in charge.

[dialysisadvocate]

I know this post is from August 2011 - almost ten months ago .. but as I was scrolling through some of the posts, I wanted to share what i was informed.. To my understanding, when a patient runs a temp, the unit is suppose to draw blood cultures  I am not a physician or a dialysis nurse, but I don't think it is normal for someone to run a temperature after dialysis .. sometimes the technicians turn the temperature up on the machines and that could give someone an elevated temp

Anyway -- it would be interesting to see if your facility had a problem with other patients, as well, acquiring an infection. ProPublica just released the updated CMS data from facilities and you can find out your facility's information regarding infections www.propublica.org/dialysis and go to 'tracker' -- also, if you are in California, by any chance, we have posted the inspection reports at www.qualitysafepatientcare.com

I always tell patients, especially who have a catheter, to find out what their facility's procedure is and ask what the correct practices are - that way, if the nurse, who usually, in most states, does catheters.... does not implement correct practices you will acquire a preventable infection..

opinons of roberta mikles