This is something called a central line, a vital bit of medical equipment for patients in the hospital.
But care must be taken when the central line is used.
"Several years ago, Castle Medical Center partnered with Johns Hopkins University to look at evidence-based best practices where we can cut down on central line infections,” said Dr. Alan Cheung, vascular surgeon at Castle Medical Center.
The fact is, central line infections can be deadly.
"We're very interested in preventing some of these deaths from central line infections and by preventing central line infections, you can not only save lives, you can also prevent discomfort, decrease the length of stay for the patients in the hospitals and also cut down on costs."
Obviously, it's the patient's health that's paramount.
But the cost of an infection can be staggering - adding time to the patient's stay and as much as $26,000 in additional cost.
There are five basic principals the hospital insists on when it comes to the use of central lines.
"One is very careful hand washing. the entire team needs to wash their hands thoroughly. Two is use sterile barriers - gowns, gloves, masks, hats - and a sterile drape for the patient to keep everything clean."
Third on the list - doctors and nurses must carefully select where the central line will be placed, most likely in the neck or chest area where there is a lower rate of infection.
“And fourth is to wash the skin with chlorhexidine which kills the bacteria and fifth is to monitor these catheters very closely. Any sign of redness or infection, take them out early."
How successful has the program been?
"By doing these things, we have actually cut down infections to zero infections in 26 months here at Castle Medical Center and that's a lot of potential lives that we have saved."
