There are hardly any line infections in Germany
By: Connie (2:16 PM 04/03/2010)Hello, my name is Connie and I come from Germany. My daughter (16 months old) has suffered from short bowel syndrom for 15 months now after having gotten a NEC due to prematurity. She's had a Broviac catheter for 15 months now, too. I am shocked about the line infections described by many parents in this forum. In Germany, I have actualy hardly heard of such infections. We never had the Broviac changed yet, there was never an infection yet and I am dis- and reconnecting her daily by myself at home. Maybe we have a different way of doing this and protecting the catheter over here.
I prepare the infusion in a sterile environment. Al syringes, injections, lines, caps and so on are being sprayed with desinfectant before getting started. When connecting/disconnecting, I use a sterile cloth to cover any skin under the end part of the broviac.I wear sterile gloves and a mask. I spray, I underline "spray" the open broviac with alcohol desinfectant, additionally I spray the end of the line, the connectors and the flushing injection. I was taught that rubbing with desinfectant is a severe risk to infection, while the spraying spreads into every little corner of the material used.
After dis-/reconnecting I wrap the connectin part fully in two sterile swabs, then we wrap about 20 centimeters of cohesive elastic fixation bandage around it. Thats all.
I must go to regular check-ups at the short bowel center every 6 weeks and I meet a lot of parents there. Nobody ever mentioned having had an infection yet.
We have a very good homecare service, too. That is Fresenius Kabi.
We could even take her on a two-week vacation to Jamaica in Dec 09. Fresenius provided us with everything we needed for this period of time.
Furthermore, we do not experience liver problems associated to TPN over here anymore due to SMOFLipid in the infusion.
My daughter's liver values are like those of healthy children.
Please feel free to e-mail me at ladyconnie@freenet.de if you want to compare the procedures in the US and in Germany or if you have any questions. We also never had a problem with diaper rashes before. We se a barrier cream that is mixed at the pharmacy. I would love to exchange ideas with parents in the US. Maybe we can learn from each other...different countries-different procedures.