Message Boards for the CF Trust

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Abbo

Posts: 24
From: Reading
Registered: 08-Mar-2004

IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 08:52

Reply

Just for future reference, can someone explain what going on to IV's entails?

Do you go into hospital?

How long does a dose take?

How often??

etc etc etc

scarlettsmum

Posts: 11
From: surrey
Registered: 07-Nov-2006

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 10:32

Reply

Scarlett's had ivs once, last xmas, when she was 5 months old. She was admitted to hosp for 2 weeks & had her ivs (through a long line which was put in her arm) three times a day. The morning & evening ivs took about 5 mins if that, as the nurse gave them with a syringe, but the afternoon ones took around 30 mins i think, as these were different meds & had to be given via a machine which pumped the meds into the line.

After the 1st week, we were allowed home after the afternoon dose & just had to return to the hospital for the night, in time for the night dose,which was at 10pm.

I don't know if any of this is the norm, as I said, so far (touch wood!), scarlett's only had ivs once. It was Xmas & we only live 10 mins drive from the hospital, so don't know if that made a difference with us being allowed home.

Hope that helps, but i'm sure more knowledgeable people will post soon.

Michelle

windy

Posts: 16
From: lytham st annes lancashire
Registered: 13-Feb-2004

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 10:50

Reply

Hi,

Our daughter Millie started regular iv's in June this year,she gets them every 16 weeks.
Both outreach and i agree a date for admission,when admitted mills has a long line inserted into her arm with the help of magic cream and her favourite Doctor Ned,after the line has been inserted we are off to x-ray to make sure it in the right place.
Mills treatment then consists of regular antibiotics being administered through the line at regular intervals 06.00am,14.00 and 22.00 and this will continue for 2weeks during this time she stayed in hospital for the full 2 weeks with either dad or i staying overnight then eventually she was being let out during the day,with a visit at home from the outreach team daily to give her lunch time treatment then we would take her back in to hospital in the evening.
We have been lucky so far and the lone line has managed to last the full 2 weeks therefor reducing the upset of having it redone.
On millies last set of treatment in October she was only in hospital for 48hrs then we had her at home for the 2 weeks and dad and i did her ivs as i had been trained and signed off by the hospital at the last set of treatments,this allowed millie still to go to nursery school 2 days per week and be at home with familiar surroundings,it was hard work getting into a routine for those 2 weeks but we did get support from the outreach team daily mon to friday.
At the end of her treatment mills went back into hospital just to have her line removed and have a quick check over by the doctor and she was home 45mins later.

Hope this helps.

Gail (mum to Millie)

BeckySerenDylan

Posts: 146
From: Suffolk
Registered: 06-Nov-2006

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 12:55

Reply

My son had his first iv's at 3 months old. My daughter is now 4 1/2 and has never had iv's.

My son has very frequent iv's, and so eventually he had a portacath put in at 9 1/2 months old, and it was replaced in September this year (he was 2 yrs old then) because the old one got infected and broke.

As far as iv's go, before the portacath, it was always via a cannula, at first if their veins are good, they try to go for the veins in their hands, but Dylan has had his inner elbows, and his feet used too.

Once the cannula is in, iv's can either be four, three, two or one dose per day (Dylan has had Vancomycin 4 times a day and for an hour each time, plus flushes, but he's also had Ceftazidime on it's own which takes 1/2 an hour once a day).

As for how long they take, it depends on the drug and the patient's age. If the dose is small enough, it can be pushed through the cannula manually, or it might need to go on a syringe driver, which can be over half an hour or an hour, or it can go on a drip, which usually takes an hour.

Dylan's last iv's were the Vancomycin ones to treat his port infection, but his last chest-related iv's were Ceftazidime and Gentamicin, and they took 1 1/2 hours on a syringe driver.

I do his iv's at home now, since he's had his portacath, but if my 4 1/2 year old needed iv's, then I would want her to stay in hospital unless the community nurses could come to the house and do them (this is more likely if there is only one dose per day), but I wouldn't want to do cannula iv's myself, although I know some parents do.

Hope that helps!

Becky x

dibbles

Posts: 19
From: liverpool
Registered: 07-Nov-2006

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 17:57

Reply

J.P is in Alder Hey at the moment having his first iv's, hes 2 now, so I guess hes been lucky that this is his first one. They had to use his foot, as they couldnt get a canula in his hand. Hes on his 2nd week so hopefully he should be home by weds/thurs.
The chest infection is still hanging around, but we hope it will be all cleared up by this week.
He was very bad, as the fluid from his lungs had also affected his main joints. The doctor seems to think its related to his cf (others say not).
I do remember the hospital saying when he was diagnosed that he would posiibly have to have regular iv's but he hasnt needed them up to now.

maggsmcg

Posts: 60
From: Hemel Hempstead
Registered: 07-Nov-2006

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 18:04

Reply

Shelby is 6 now but has had quite a few IV's in her six years. Her veins have never been good, and so she had a port-a-cath inserted in January. The Consultant at our local hospital does not allow home IV's which is a bit of a pain as Shelby's mum used to be an auxillary nurse, so would not have a problem once she was trained and signed off.

Shelby usually has three doses a day one of which takes about 1/2 hour. We prefer it if the 10pm one is the longer one because she sometimes falls asleep whilst it is being done. But usually it is the 2pm one as it is more convenient for the nurses. However now that she is likely to be in for IV's every three months for a while we may well have to insist that the longer one is either morning or evening so that she can at least go to school for some of the day - especially in the 2nd week.

Abbo

Posts: 24
From: Reading
Registered: 08-Mar-2004

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 19:51

Reply

Thanks for all the answers so far everyone.

Having read them, I have another, related, question now...

How do I go about getting "trained and signed off" on delivery IVs?

I read this "units have developed a fast-track teaching program which eliminates the need for even a few days hospital admission, to consolidate teaching at the beginning of the first course of HIVT "

Ideas?

justme

Posts: 188
Registered: 06-Feb-2004

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 20:25

Reply

From my experience as a pwcf, my cf nurse agreed that my mum was competent enough to do my ivs at home, and then for about 2days worth of ivs my mum came to the ward for the morning and afternoon doses and was shown how to draw them up and give them. after about 2days, she was declared fit to give my ivs at home and i was sent home on ivs. It took about the same length of time for me to be trained up as well.

If its the first ever IVs your child is having, your hospital may not be prepared for you to be trained up, some just aren't prepared to train parents up full stop so home ivs are never a possibility.

I think it depends on how much confidence you have in being able to adminster ivs to your child. My mum gave me home ivs while I had longlines in as well when I got my port about 10years ago.

tj

Posts: 33
From: Manchester
Registered: 06-Nov-2006

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 20:26

Reply

Joseph recently had his fourth set of Iv's and he's 2. Through unfortunate circumstances our hospital made our last set of Iv's quite a difficult process and so we have asked our CF nurse to get us trained in doing home IV's through a cannula and a long line as joe doesn't need a portacath yet. However, if this is your first set of IV's for a 4 year old I would wait to see what your team say (sorry if its not your first time, thats the impression I was under). They may not feel that at the moment its needed - or they may sign you up asap!

We have started by getting all the information/literature that trainee nurses receive and the next time Joe goes in for IV's we will be given a test on this information and then go through the procedure of administering meds whilst under the hospital care. We have also been told that the IV's through a cannula/long line need to be practiced first a couple of times so we may have to do the next two courses of IV's whilst in hospital. Then, once the hospital staff are satisfied they, with the cf nurse, will sign us off and we will be able to do them at home, only going in to have the cannula fitted when required.

It will then be the responsibility of the cf nurse to check on us every three days as procedure, just to check everything is okay.

Hope this helps but we were told it takes a while to train parents, (maybe thats to do with us

) if not ignore my very long post!

tinekax

Just read the above post, - maybe it won't take two course of IV's after all to learn!
Message was edited by: tj

maggsmcg

Posts: 60
From: Hemel Hempstead
Registered: 07-Nov-2006

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 21:07

Reply

Which hospital are you attending Abbo?
Sounds like ours is the only one that won't allow home IV's. So annoying.

BeckySerenDylan

Posts: 146
From: Suffolk
Registered: 06-Nov-2006

Re: IV's for a 4yo. Can someone give me the low-down
Posted: 19-Nov-2006 22:16

Reply

It took me about 3 days to learn to do Dylan's iv's with his port. I could have left after 2 days, but I wanted to do the extra day just to be sure.

I trained Adrian up myself at home to do port flushes before he had his needle out from his op (his iv's had finished, but they couldn't take the needle out because it was under the dressing, so he just had to have it flushed twice a day), and the community nurse was happy for me to train him.

Becky x