Central Line

This week in ISM I planned out how I am going to execute my original work while I was on my second mentor visit. This visit was imperative to my learning of common procedure as I was able to witness and partake in standard practices during treatment. In my next visit, I hope to learn even more about common procedures that nurses perform on the oncology wing. This will be extremely beneficial to my research as I continue to learn more about the hospital environment and all that patients experience during treatment.

I had learned about the central line, where the line leads to, and how to flush a line. The central line on a patient is also known as a central venous catheter. It is a very thin tube that that is inserted into a vein below the right collarbone and guided into a larger vein above the right side of the heart called the superior vena cava. The catheter is placed in a vein that is directly above the heart, so that the medication goes directly into the heart. This is the fastest way for cancer patients to receive their treatment and medication.

I also observed other nurses on my visit perform a urinary catheter insertion so that the patient has a way to excrete their waste. As you can imagine that this was hard to watch, it was good for me to learn the parts of pediatric oncology that are not too exciting.