While central lines allows patients with cancer and other serious illnesses to receive antibiotics, liquid nutrition and chemotherapy from the comfort of their own home, the catheters can cause serious infections and complications if caregivers don't clean them properly, reports Kaiser Health News.
Amy Billett, MD, director of quality and safety at the cancer and blood disorders center at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute/Boston Children’s Hospital, told Kaiser Health News many family members are ill-equipped to handle central lines after leaving the hospital. The cancer center surveyed parents of pediatric patients and found most felt they did not receive enough training on central lines and were not fully confident about their ability to care for their child at home.
Here are three steps Dana-Farber/Boston Children's took to improve home care for central lines.
- Standardize learning tools: The hospital first hired a "checklist engineer" to streamline educational messaging and develop new resources about handling central lines.
- Offer hands-in training: Instead of flooding parents with care instructions right before discharge, the cancer center now teaches family members and caregivers about central lines five to 10 days prior to the patient's discharge. Parents are also able to practice handling the central line on a dummy in the hospital.
- Track skill development: The hospital records which family members receive care training and note the person's skill level. Nurses also conduct home visits to ensure caregivers are properly handling the central lines.
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