Can Wife (RN) be trained to do fills?

MPL NJ · October 25, 2007

Does anyone have any information on a someone who is a Registered Nurse being able to do fills?

My wife is a ICU nurse and says it does not sound more complicated then the proceedures she does at work daily.

Can anyone shead some light on this?

VegasGrace · October 25, 2007

I'm sure you could contact Inamed...they may even have a link on their site...for health care professionals.

Don't see why not.

mbanja · October 25, 2007

I think Inamed has a training program for such a thing.

littlelove · October 27, 2007

Hi, I had an inamed certified technician do my fill today. I think your wife could definitely do it. And it could be a very lucrative endeavor for her. In our city, the Drs charge about $800. if you didn't use them for the surgeon, but you want them to do the first fill, after that it is less. However, the guy in the Drs office, also works in a small clinic, and he does fills for all the people who used other doctors. He told me he averages 130 fills a month. I believe it. Minus all the overhead he probably deals with, thats a nice little income. Anyway, for the people who were saying they could do their own fills, I mentioned that to him, and he made some good points about how much damage can be done with a needle, puncturing a lung, stomach, all kinds of things. So, it is much preferable to use a RN, who is used to working in controlled, sanitary, healthful conditions...:car: we all find very comforting.

SpeechPath · October 29, 2007

My mom is a nurse who plans on doing my fills. Nurses access the same type ports with cancer patients all the time. When I had my surgery, I asked my doctor about my mom getting trained and they said no problem. A friend of mine had her surgery in Mexico and her sister is a nurse and always does her fills!

marjon9 · October 29, 2007

Just make sure she's not angry with you. There are times when my wife would probably be inclined to fill up my band with Plaster of Paris, or something of that nature. :omg::heh::boink:

Penni60 · October 29, 2007

Something to consider here (by the way I am an RN and have accessed many Ports for cancer patients), the ports cancer patients have are similar but not the same as lapband ports. The other thing to consider is when RN's access the Ports for cancer patients we are injecting Fluid into a large cavity and volume is not as important an issue as injecting into the lapband port.

The last time I spoke to Inamed they made it clear to me that they do NOT certify anyone to give the fills. ONLY doctors are acceptible personnel to give the fills. There are people out there that claim to be certified and just to give everyone a head's up there is no such thing out there.

Please call Inamed and verify this information before having someone touch you. If you use someone that is not properly trained and you develop complications then you are out the money to correct your problems. You have no recourse.

I personally would NOT want to inject for a fill simply based on my prior experience accessing ports for cancer patients. There is a whole different procedure, access sites, complications that can arise, not to mention putting too much saline in and causing more issues.

JUST MY OPINION!!

travelgirl · October 29, 2007

Just make sure she's not angry with you. There are times when my wife would probably be inclined to fill up my band with Plaster of Paris, or something of that nature. :omg::heh::boink:

LOL! NO WAY!

:heh: If my DH were banded, he might say the very same thing. HA!

travelgirl · October 29, 2007

Something to consider here (by the way I am an RN and have accessed many Ports for cancer patients), the ports cancer patients have are similar but not the same as lapband ports. The other thing to consider is when RN's access the Ports for cancer patients we are injecting Fluid into a large cavity and volume is not as important an issue as injecting into the lapband port.
The last time I spoke to Inamed they made it clear to me that they do NOT certify anyone to give the fills. ONLY doctors are acceptible personnel to give the fills. There are people out there that claim to be certified and just to give everyone a head's up there is no such thing out there.

Please call Inamed and verify this information before having someone touch you. If you use someone that is not properly trained and you develop complications then you are out the money to correct your problems. You have no recourse.

I personally would NOT want to inject for a fill simply based on my prior experience accessing ports for cancer patients. There is a whole different procedure, access sites, complications that can arise, not to mention putting too much saline in and causing more issues.

JUST MY OPINION!!

My fills are alternated between my surgeon and the PA. Is the PA not qualified to do this, then, since he's not really a "Doctor"?

Honestly, I like when he does my fills better than when the surgeon does them. I end up with less bruising afterwards, and he takes more time to talk with me about how I'm doing.