Peritoneal Dialysis Touch Contamination Management Tips

If you contaminate the end of the catheter by touching it or you see the betadine cap come off the catheter, follow these steps:

1. Shut any open clamp immediately.
2. Gather a blue pad and a Minicap (Betadine Cap).
3. Place a blue pad (chux) under the PD catheter.
4. Wash or gel your hands and put on a mask.
5. Place a new (Minicap) betadine cap on the end of your catheter (transfer set).
6. Call your child’s dialysis nurse or on-call nurse. Seattle Children’s considers this an emergent event. There will be additional steps.

If your child gets disconnected during therapy, the transfer set becomes disconnected from the catheter, or you find the transfer set without a Betadine cap, follow these steps:

1. Shut any open clamp immediately.
2. Gather a blue pad and a Minicap (Betadine Cap).
3. Place a blue pad (chux) under the PD catheter.
4. Wash or gel your hands and put on a mask.
5. Place a new (Minicap) betadine cap on the end of your catheter (transfer set).
6. Call your child’s dialysis nurse. You will need to come in for a transfer set change and to start emergency antibiotics for a few days.

If your child has FACT symptoms, they may have peritonitis. Germs have caused an infection in the peritoneal cavity. This can be due to:

• Possible contamination of sterile supplies or work area
• Another infection in the body (for example, a urinary tract infection or UTI)

• Call the on-call kidney doctor immediately.
• Let the PD nurse know.

• Get the cell count and culture of the PD fluid from your child’s peritoneal effluent via PD catheter. Follow the steps in the video to get a fluid sample from the PD catheter:
• If your child still urinates, get a urinalysis and culture of their urine.

View this video for the steps to get a fluid sample from your PD catheter.

Getting a Peritoneal Dialysis Fluid Sample from the PD Catheter
youtube.com/watch?v=yQTVxpuzScQ

Your child will need:

• Antibiotics through an IV or through the peritoneum (IP) as soon as possible
• A meeting with your dialysis team to discuss probable causes of the infection
• Possible admission to the hospital for treatment