Do you leave your med/flush tubing up?

[BittyBabyGrower]

Do you disconnect your tubing after each med and flush, or do you leave your set up there for X amount of hours? Also, does anyone use the trifurcated connectors with the filter built onto one of the tails? TIA

[*ac*]

We were just discussing our policy on tubing yesterday. The ONLY tubing that's left up for longer than 24 hours is TPN. All drips and lipids are Q24 changes. Things like antibiotics are tossed when the flush is done...even when there's another going up right after it.

I know I'm new, right? So I'm not into irritating the war horses in my unit, but can someone explain WHY the TPN/Lipid change is sterile, when starting an antibiotic (or whatever) on the other side of the Y isn't? Why they give you the "tisk, tisk" lecture about accessing the lines too often, but then change med tubings 4-5 times a day?

I don't know why you're changing tubing so often but I believe that TPN/lipid changes are sterile because the contents are such an excellent medium for bacteria growth.

[Imafloat, BSN, RN]

Does anyone use a Saf-T-Care system for IV meds? We use it with a small bag of normal saline. We change these out every 3 days.