posted
The stitches holding my catheter have pulled out. I have gotten the statlock device to use instead but having trouble getting home health arranged, as they are disorganized idiots apparently.
Can I do this myself? I do everything else, even tho the catheter is in upper right arm and I am right handed. Can I place and remove a statlock device with one hand? It needs to be changed every week along with the dressing, so this will be a continuing problem.
A nurse in the neighborhood changes my extension for me once a week, but she is not an infusion nurse and I can't ask her to do this too.
I am also not sure if insurance will pay for these very expensive home visits. It is in my contract but they have reneged on things before now.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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feelfit
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12770
posted
Lou,
It *may* be possible to do it yourself. I did not have my line stitched and used a stat-lock. The problem that I see you encountering is that the stat-locks are on pretty darn tight.
Peeling it off takes a little work and two hands would work best. You have to be very careful to anchor your picc line while removing the stat-lock.....
Could you call a home health nurse and get an informed opinion in regards to this? that may be the best route to take.
Feelfit
Posts: 3975 | From usa | Registered: Aug 2007
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posted
Unfortunately, the home health people are not helpful. Mainly interested in making it complicated to get service, tell me one thing one time, another the next time. Lose instructions, have to have them repeated, don't call back or come when they said they would. Sheesh. Why does everything have to be so hard?
I have printed out the instructions for applying and removing, but the pictures show a little round disk that goes around the line at the insertion site, above the stat lock. No little disk is in the package. Just the statlock, skin prep package, and a securing strip which is presumably used to hold the line while the statlock is being replaced. In fact, the instructions don't even mention this disk! But it is shown as being replaced in the pictures.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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feelfit
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 12770
posted
The little round disk is a pre-prep medicated patch. It has a small slice cut into the side and fits around the picc at insertion site.
I did not have this with my PICC line but it was applied when I had a periphrial line that was removed every four days. Some doctors order a gauze patch over the insertion site. Others want it open in order to view the skin at insertion site.
It all depends on the doctor and their orders.
As I have said, my first central line had no round disc or gauze.
Sorry that you are encountering so much trouble regarding this.....picc's are serious business!
Good luck lou!
Posts: 3975 | From usa | Registered: Aug 2007
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Pocono Lyme
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5939
posted
Hi lou,
My first PICC was sutured in and eventually they broke. It was fine without the sutures and without a stat lock.
I anchored it with a strip of tape below the tegaderm. lasted another 7 months or so.
I found the stat lock removal being more risky as far as pulling the line out.
-------------------- 2 Corinthians 12:9-11
9 But he said to me, �My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.� Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ�s power may rest on me. Posts: 1445 | From Poconos, PA | Registered: Jul 2004
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sometimesdilly
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 9982
posted
up for more help for Lou
Posts: 2507 | From lost in the maze | Registered: Aug 2006
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posted
Very helpful. I did stick some tape below the tegaderm as a quick fix. Maybe that is what I should just continue doing, in view of the problems with one handed statlock placement and no help from home health. I have dealt with them twice in the last ten years and it was a pain both times. It is a medical desert around this area, and if I ever had to have emergency surgery in the local hospital, don't think it would end with me alive.
A friend went to the ER here years ago after a tickbite caused high fever and so forth. They asked her if she had a boyfriend and other totally irrelevant questions. She is now disabled with chronic lyme.
Posts: 8430 | From Not available | Registered: Oct 2000
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posted
Lou I did my own dressing/statlock changes. I would anchor the tubing down lower on my arm with tape to keep some slack in the line so I wouldn't accidently pull it out. Remember to wash your hands real well with antibacterial soap before. I couldn't use gloves to do it.
Posts: 383 | From Ar | Registered: May 2007
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posted
If you cannot get a friend to assist you with the Statlock, you might want to try the tape-with-tegaderm idea.
I've got my husband to help me out. I can do every step of my dressing change EXCEPT the Statlock change. I'm just not coordinated enough, I guess. I could probably get the Statlock off, but I don't think I could easily get one back on and centered in the right location.
Posts: 398 | From By the Salish Sea | Registered: Dec 2008
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sammy
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 13952
posted
Lou, if you are doing your own dressing changes you should be able to handle using a statlock.
So, start by washing your hands. Then open the dressing change kit, open the statlock package and dump the supplies into the dressing change kit. (You don't want to touch the outside of the package later on with your sterile gloves, better to do it now).
Pull out the mask and put it on. Put on some clean gloves. Remove the old dressing.
Apply some hand sanitizer. Find the drape in your kit and place that under your arm forming your sterile field. Put on the sterile gloves. Clean the site as usual with ChloraPrep, let it dry. Then apply the skin prep.
Now, you've cleaned and prepped the area but your PICC is not anchored. (I usually have mine just resting/draped on top of my arm so that the line doesn't hang down and pull out.)
The tricky part for you will be eye balling where to place the statlock. My PICC has about 7cm of line extending from the site to the hub. So I apply the statlock to my arm and gently curve the line up to lay the hub on the statlock and lock it in place with the wing clips. The line coming from the site to the statlock forms a candy cane shape.
If you're using a biopatch, the circle sponge thingy you saw in the picture, apply it to the site now. If you've not been using these, request them from your infusion company. They help prevent infection.
Last you will want to apply the tegederm or your preferred dressing over the area. You're done!
If that all sounds too complicated you can always use steri strips to secure the hub instead of the statlock. Steri strips are sturdier than tape. Tape can also become irritating if you use it often.
You could play around with both options, steri strips vs statlock to see what you like best. I feel more comfortable with the statlock. It seems more secure to me.
Remember, whatever you choose, steri strips or statlock these things need to be changed each week with the dressing change. I've heard horror stories of people not changing these things...makes me cringe!
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