Anyone NOT use prefilled flushes?

[Mommy TeleRN, RN]

I have experience at 2 hospitals as a student. One uses prefilled flushes (as I imagine most hospitals do) One does not. Supposedly it is cost saving. You have to open the syringe, wipe the tip of the saline bag with alcohol, fill the syringe, and cap it (they have the little caps in a package) and if you are prudent, slap a NS label on it. Just seems so odd to me to share a saline bag to fill flushes. Is this standard practice anywhere else?

[muffie, RN]

we love them and go through them like hotcakes

[smk1, LPN]

I have experience at 2 hospitals as a student. One uses prefilled flushes (as I imagine most hospitals do) One does not. Supposedly it is cost saving. You have to open the syringe, wipe the tip of the saline bag with alcohol, fill the syringe, and cap it (they have the little caps in a package) and if you are prudent, slap a NS label on it. Just seems so odd to me to share a saline bag to fill flushes. Is this standard practice anywhere else?[/quote

My suspicious mind would worry that some evil person injected something into the saline bag that we are all sharing, and that I am injecting something else along with the saline into my locks and lines. :uhoh21: (I also just like the convenience of individual saline flushes that I can keep in the wrapper and put a few in my pocket)

[jill48, ASN, RN]

Sounds scary to me. :chair:

[Mommy TeleRN, RN]

Yea we have had the same worry smk. I also wonder about infection control if someone forgets to wipe the port. Couldn't so many accesses (we are talking a 1L bag) end up with cross contamination? This is a big hospital too. Just seems odd so that is why I was wondering if anyone else does it this way?

[morte, LPN, LVN]

supposed to be one way access....though that device could be removed.....if it is kept in the med room, it should be ok....unless you dont trust your fellow nurses, and sometmes that may be prudent,lol

[BrnEyedGirl, BSN, MSN, RN, APRN]

we started using them about a year and a half ago,...but before that we didn't use a 1L NS bag for flushes!! We had small 50ml bottles,..grab one at the begining of the shift,.your good to go!

[TazziRN, RN]

we used prefilled syringes now but we used to have 10ml vials, single use. I would never use a bag of MS that had already been accessed by someone else. If that was my only choice I would be using 50ml bags each time and only using each on one pt.

[cardiac.cure03]

I've heard of the pre-filled flushes but I haven't seen them in any of the hospitals around here. The one I work at uses these little 30mL containers...I like em.

[Mommy TeleRN, RN]

Tazzi - I guess if I had to choose I would prefer a bag too.. it's a pain to attach a needle to fill - one more step.

[meownsmile, BSN, RN]

We used the individual NS bottles up until 4-5 years ago. The prefills are much easier and less risk of sticks. I would imagine much more cost for the facility, but in the long run cheaper than doing possible needlestick followups.

[cappuccino]

I like using the pre-filled flushes. We have them in both 5cc and 10cc syringes. It makes life much easier. We also have heparin lock flushes in 10cc syringes. It is absolutely time saving and oh so convenient.