Catheter Care
Peritoneal dialysis catheter care instructions on how to help keep your catheter working properly and to prevent infections should be given by your PD team. You will need to care for your catheter site by cleaning it properly and changing your bandages correctly as instructed. Your healthcare provider generally will change your bandages for the first 2 weeks. When your exit site is healed you may need to change your bandages every day. A healed exit site is pink, and the area should not be painful. Follow up with your healthcare provider as directed and write down any questions for your team so you remember to ask them during your visits
Common PD Problems
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Contact Your PD Team If
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Gather Your Supplies
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Bathing With Your Catheter
Do not bathe until 2 weeks after your catheter was placed, healing may be delayed if your exit site gets wet. Until then, use a washcloth, soap, and water to wash your skin near the catheter site. You may be able to shower when the exit site heals, if so leave the bandages on until after you shower and then put on new bandages. Do not put the exit site directly under water.
Infection Prevention
- Keep your catheter in place. Your healthcare provider will show you how to tape the catheter to your body. This may help prevent it from twisting and being moved or pulled out. Additionally there are PD belts to assist in your catheter care.
- Change your bandages every day, or as directed. You may need to keep your exit site covered with bandages, ensure that these are regularly changed and proper cleaning to exit site is performed.
- Take antibiotic medicine as directed. Antibiotics help prevent or treat an infection caused by bacteria. Always contact your PD team before taking any other antibiotics.
Catheter Flow Issues
Inflow or outflow problems may mean that your catheter is blocked, or that the tube has moved out of the right place. The following procedure is called a forced flush and generally will correct these issues. Some patients note the procedure to be slightly painful when performing. If you are not comfortable with syringes you can use your dialysate bag by squeezing the bag to force solution in to clear your catheter. Outflow issues may not be corrected without a syringe to pull the dialysate out.
- Dialysate inflow or outflow is slow: Put 10 to 20 milliliters (mL) of dialysate or saline solution into the catheter with a syringe. Hold the catheter and syringe in 1 hand. Use your other hand to firmly push the dialysate out of the syringe, through the catheter, and into your abdomen. This may clear the blockage. Do this a few times and then use the syringe to try and pull fluid out gently. If fluid comes out, the catheter is no longer blocked.
- Dialysate inflow is fast, but there is no outflow: Change your position while you do the exchange. If this does not help, disconnect the end of the tubing that is attached to your catheter. Use a syringe to draw the dialysate out of your abdomen. Reconnect the tubing once you have started the outflow.
Catheter Care Tips
- Wash your hands with soap and water. Scrub them for at least 15 seconds. Dry your hands well with a clean towel or new paper towel. Your healthcare provider may also recommend that you use an alcohol-based hand gel after you dry your hands. The gel will help kill any bacteria that remain after you wash your hands.
- Put on your mask, and then your gloves. Make sure the mask covers both your nose and your mouth. This will help prevent germs from your nose or mouth reaching the exit site. Put on your gloves. Do not touch anything other than the bandage and your supplies when your gloves are on.
- Do not move your catheter. Do not pull or twist your catheter when you change your bandages. Make sure your catheter stays in place.
- Use the sterile solution to remove the old bandages. Pour the solution over bandages that are stuck on your exit site to loosen them. If there is a scab, do not pull on it. Remove the bandages slowly.
- Clean your wound, catheter, and skin. Wipe the exit wound, catheter, and skin around the catheter with a sterile solution. Pat the area dry with a clean towel. Your healthcare provider may tell you to apply an antibiotic lotion or cream to the site to prevent a bacterial infection.
- Cover your catheter and the exit site with a bandage. Cover your catheter when you are not using it to help it stay in place. This may help stop the catheter from bending and kinking, or being pulled out. Use several layers of bandages to cover the exit site and the skin around your catheter. Hold the bandages in place with tape.
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