Saline flush without a physician order?

[stephenfnielsen]

Let's say a patient has a saline locked IV. The nurse knows that it is best practice to flush saline locked IVs with saline every 8 hours. Can she do this without a physician order?

[wooh, BSN, RN]

I can't believe I read the whole thread. Now I'm curious what the point is.

I'm also terrified. You see, I gave morphine IV twice to a pt tonight. The IV was saline locked. I flushed a couple CCs before and after said administration. Do you think I'll still have my job when I go back?? :)

I wouldn't be worried about your job. You're probably going to be reported to the board....

[diva rn, BSN, RN]

Our Drs hate being called for anything, day or night. If I called to ask for a saline flush, the Dr would surely ask: "Are you a moron?!" And slam the phone down.

And in this instance I am afraid he would be right.....

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

I can't believe I read the whole thread. Now I'm curious what the point is.

I'm also terrified. You see, I gave morphine IV twice to a pt tonight. The IV was saline locked. I flushed a couple CCs before and after said administration. Do you think I'll still have my job when I go back?? :)

I can't believe ANY of us got through this without heading out into the driveways screaming and running in circles

[diva rn, BSN, RN]

I can't believe ANY of us got through this without heading out into the driveways screaming and running in circles

Who said we didn't?

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

Who said we didn't?

:cheers::hpygrp::hhmth::hhmth::hhmth:

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

We must agree that some of the characters here on allnurses make for great entertainment

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

We must agree that some of the characters here on allnurses make for great entertainment

Absolutely :yeah:

[Aurora77]

I'm bummed the OP didn't come back. I want to know what the point was??? Now I'll never know.....

[xtxrn, ASN, RN]

I'm bummed the OP didn't come back. I want to know what the point was??? Now I'll never know.....

Not sure the OP knew other than the one line of us unruly nurses not being qualified to use saline flushes without Hippocrates himself glaring over our shoulders

[~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN]

So last night I had to keep calling a doc a lot, this doc is not happy with the hospital doing CPOE now and him having to enter his own orders and stuff (although when they call back we will still do it to be nice and make things easier). But he came into the hospital to see the patient finally and wanted gripping about the dang CPOE and so I said "Dr. Hatescpoe, did you put an order in for me to flush the buff cap after you put the IV order in." He looked at me funny and was like WHAT?!?!?! Are you kidding me, now I have to start writing orders for this crap too. I knew I should have retired. How the heck do they expect you to take care of an IV if I have spell it all out. Give me a break."

So I started laughing and told him I was just kidding.

[HeartsOpenWide, RN]

It is our hospital policy to flush every 12 hrs so we do not need an order; but the S.L. is how the physicians order an I.V. to be started so I guess we always have one anyways (there is a box they check that says Saline Lock and it means to start and I.V. and do a Saline Lock, next to it has IV fluids which they can fill out if they want a running IV

[blue444]

Hello, I am doing a bit of a research project and just need to know how different hospitals/states/countries differ and what they do. So my question is "do you need a Dr's order for saline flushes on the medication chart in order to flush a peripheral IV before/after IVAB's"? Where I currently work, we do need a Dr's order to be able to use saline 3-5mls to flush in paediatric patients. Can you please let me know your location/hospital. If you dont want to post this private info for everyone to see is there a way to contact me privately.

Thanks