PORT care and maintenance

Vascular access catheters now play an integral role in our modern health care system and support patients both in hospital and at home for a variety of reasons such as the administrations of blood products intravenous fluids and chemotherapy as well as being used for haemodynamic monitoring and blood sampling.

The session will focus on the care and maintenance of implantable PORTS. The aim is to define an implanted port and provide a brief overview of appropriate patient groups and intravenous treatments.

The focus will be on the benefits and risks surrounding the use of an implanted port. Describing the basic access procedures and continuing care and maintenance strategies, such as consent, topical anesthetics to decrease pain and intensity prior to accessing the device, aseptic technique, flushing techniques, line locks and dressings.