Paediatrics - Care of your child's cannula at home

Your child needs to be treated with intravenous medication. This means that their medicine will be given directly into a vein. Your child has had a cannula placed so that this medicine can be given.

The cannula is a flexible tube, placed directly into a vein, which will need to stay in place throughout their treatment. The doctors have decided your child is able to go home with the cannula in place and to continue the antibiotic treatment with the community children’s nursing team.

This leaflet is to explain how you should care for your child’s cannula at home.

Care of the cannula

Care of this cannula is important to prevent any problems.

To make sure the cannula remains in place, it will be secured with a clear sticky plastic dressing, and a bandage will be placed over this dressing to provide further protection.

In addition, your child may also have a splint if the cannula is in a part of the body that bends (such as the elbow or wrist), to prevent the cannula from blocking.

• Make sure the bandage covers the cannula completely
• When bathing or washing, make sure the dressing remains clean and dry

Do not allow it to get wet

• The cannula should not be pulled. Take care when removing your child’s clothing
• Ensure that your child is supervised when playing
• Do not take the dressing off yourself. The nurse will check the dressing every time the medicine is given

What do I do if there is a problem with the cannula

If it comes out, do not panic. It will probably bleed a little but do not worry. Remove all the remaining dressing and cannula and cover the area with a clean cloth or kitchen towel, applying slight pressure to the site. When the bleeding has stopped apply a plaster to the area. Contact the Children’s Unit or Children’s Community Nurses.

If your child has any of the following contact the Children’s unit or Community Children’s Nurses immediately:

• The cannula has become dislodged
• The skin around the cannula site is red, hot, sore, puffy, swollen, white or hard
• There is a noticeable red line above the cannula site that follows the vein
• Your child has pain around or in the cannula site, or in the arm or leg where the cannula is
• The cannula site has fluid or blood leaking from it
• Your child has a rash, red flushed face, or any itching
• Your child has a high temperature

What happens after treatment has finished?

When the prescribed course of treatment has finished, the cannula will be removed by the doctor or nurse.

Site of cannula
Size of cannula
Date cannula inserted
Description of dressing/bandaging

Contact details:

Children’s ward at Royal Oldham Hospital is 0161 627 8866

Community Children’s Nursing Teams
Oldham: 0161 357 5115
Heywood, Middleton and Rochdale: 01706 676777

Helpful telephone numbers:

NHS 111 - Emergency and urgent care service.

You may also use this space to record other telephone numbers you may find useful:

GP -
Health Visitor -
BARDOC/Go to doc -

References

Home care For Peripheral Intravenous Cannulae, Norfolk and Norwich University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, (2013).
Going home with a Cannula, East and North Hertfordshire NHS Trust, (2013).