After Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) Placement

You had a procedure to place a peripherally inserted central line catheter. This is also called a PICC line. The catheter is a small, soft tube that was inserted into a vein in your arm. It was then moved through your vein until the tip sits in the large vein (vena cava) near your heart. A PICC is used to deliver medication or nutrition directly to your bloodstream. As you recover, follow the instructions below.

Activity

• Keep the arm with the PICC line elevated until the day after the procedure.

• Avoid strenuous activity and lifting anything 10 pounds or more with the arm that has the PICC line until your health care provider say it's okay.

Home Care

• Keep the dressing and the incision site clean and dry.

• Don’t swim, bathe, or do other activities that cause water to cover the insertion site.

• If you take medicine to thin your blood, ask your health care team when it is safe to start taking it again.

• Do not use any lotions, creams, oils, powders or ointments on your incision site.

Catheter Care

• A home health nurse will change the dressing and clean the site every 7 days. 

• If the dressing becomes loose, dirty, or wet, call the home health nurse right away so the dressing can be changed.  Do not remove the dressing.

• The home health nurse will change the injection caps one time per week. Do not touch the ends of the line when the caps are off.

• Always wash your hands, put on gloves and clean the end caps before using the end cap. 

• Keep the ends of the catheter taped to your arm to prevent pulling the PICC line out.

• Flush the line every time it is used with 20 cc of saline and 1.5 cc of Heparin lock flush.

• Flush the lumens every 24 hours with 10 cc of saline and 1.5 cc of Heparin lock flush.

When to seek medical care

Call your health care provider right away if you have any of the following:

• Chest pain

• Fever of 101°F (38.3°C)

• Chills

• Bleeding, bruising or swelling at the catheter insertion site

• Signs of infection at the catheter site (pain, redness, drainage, burning, or stinging)

• The catheter falls out, breaks, cracks, leaks, or has other damage

• The catheter cannot be flushed or blood cannot be removed