arterial lines

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  1. by Aug 3, '01
    I wanted to know what mixture different hospitals use for their arterial lines.

    We use 5000 units of heparin in 500 units of normal saline.

    I am wanting to approach our anesthesiologists and surgeons about changing and buying pre-packaged arterial line solution.

    I have heard other institutions use lower if any doses of heparin for their arterial lines.

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  3. 8 Comments so far...

  4. Aug 6, '01 by
    We use 2000u heparin in 500cc NaCl. We have not considered premixed solution. I imagine they are much more expensive than mixing individually.
  5. Aug 6, '01 by
    We do a lot of cases using arterial lines so I think considering the time the pharmacist spends mixing it would be comparable?
    maybe.
    We are looking at it right now.
    W\Everyone is for it I just have to approach the surgeons and anesthesiologists.

  6. Feb 22, '02 by
    Our heparinized saline is prepackaged. It is true that they need not be. Many facilities are now using only saline. Our docs were approached about doing the same. They declined.
  7. Feb 23, '02 by
    I work NICU. We mix our own and use either 100 units heparin to 100 cc to NS or 50 units heparin to 100 cc NS. Or we may use 0.45% NS. Different than with adults, I guess.
  8. Mar 2, '02 by
    Our hospital uses pre mixed heparin/saline solutions. This is however probably going to change to just plain saline, since there is no evidence that an artline with heparinized saline works better or lasts longer than lines with only saline. It is just going to take some time to convince some doctors.
    It is probably going to take as long as the change towards saline locks compared to heparin locks.

    Marijke
  9. Mar 2, '02 by
    We use a 1:1 concentration with saline and the nurses mix it as needed.
  10. Mar 5, '02 by
    We now use plain 0.9% NS as our art line solution, and have had no problems with it.
  11. Mar 5, '02 by
    Just to clarify, since I worded my reply in a way that makes it sound new...we've been using NS for 1-2 years...