How do you position a patient after a VP shunt?

Immediate postoperative care includes positioning, pain management, ensuring proper function of the shunt device, monitoring, and care of the surgical site. The infant should be positioned on the unaffected side or on the back with head elevated at 15[degrees] to 30[degrees] to minimize rapid drainage of CSF.

What are complications you should be monitoring for S P VP shunt placement surgery?

Risks and complications may include:

• Blockage (obstruction) is one of the most common problems.
• Shunt malfunction may include over- or under-drainage.
• Infection at the site of the surgical wound, the shunt or in the cerebrospinal fluid itself (meningitis).

How do you clean a shunt?

VP Shunt Wound Care Do not submerge the wound under water until your child’s provider says it is okay to do so. This means not taking a bath or shower, going swimming, or using a hot tub. Instead, give your child a sponge bath and wash their hair every day.

How do you care for a child with a Ventriculoperitoneal shunt?

Do not shower or shampoo your child’s head until the stitches and staples have been taken out. Give your child a sponge bath instead. The wound should not soak in water until the skin is completely healed. Do not push on the part of the shunt that you can feel or see underneath your child’s skin behind the ear.

How does a Ventriculoperitoneal shunt work?

To help drain the extra CSF from your brain, a VP shunt will be placed into your head. The VP shunt works by taking the fluid out of your brain and moving it into your abdomen (belly), where it’s absorbed by your body. This lowers the pressure and swelling in your brain.

Where does a Ventriculoperitoneal shunt begin and end?

One end of the upstream catheter is in a ventricle. The other end of the downstream catheter is in the peritoneal (pair-et-NEE-ul) cavity. This is the space inside the belly where the stomach and the bowels sit. The shunt is all inside the body, under the skin.

Where do you palpate for VP shunt?

The valve and reservoir are typically housed together just under the scalp and are easily palpated. The distal catheter is then run down into the peritoneal cavity beneath the skin, traveling down the neck and chest wall, ending in the peritoneal cavity [1].