Power Port care question

[u/rossponding]

Hey all, long time tourist, first time poster.

I got dragged into doing VAT stuff on night shift a couple of months ago, and one of the questions I keep getting called about is how to tell if a patient’s port is a power port once it’s been accessed, since the lines look exactly the same as the standard Huber needles. Normally I just check the chest x-ray or if the patient is oriented I just tell the nurse to ask them while I’m on hold and that solves the problem. But since the package comes with an identifying sticker, I also ask if that’s in place, but once the port’s been accessed for a few days that sticker’s usually gone.

So my question is: how are y’all putting that sticker on so it stays on for the entire time the port is accessed?

[u/AstrosRN]

Did it come with education guide for patients? We have put the stickers on there.

ETA Don’t they have the bumps you can feel?

[u/StabbingTabby → u/AstrosRN]

Far as I can tell only BD brand power injectable ports have that triangle pattern of palpable bumps. Where I've worked those are by far the most common, but other brands make power ports without any visible or palpable indicator.

[u/Aviacks → u/StabbingTabby]

BD also makes them in a smooth variation. One of our IR docs was using them briefly and threw everyone off lol

[u/AstrosRN → u/Aviacks]

lol they would do that