Bacteriostatic NS vs. Plain in flushing

[IVRN72]

We have a CRNI who I have great respect for. She states that you should not flush with more that 30ml's in a 24hr period of Bacteriostatic NS. This poses a problem for me. On our PICC trays it comes with 30ml's of Bacteriostatic NS. She draws up plain NS from prefilled syringes which involves using one sterile glove and one clean hand.

Can anyone tell me what they use or what is a good way of doing this? It is just one more (seems to be uneccesary) step in setting up an already complicated sterile field.

Thanks!

[sbivrn]

Your CRNI is right. We have 2-3 ampules of regular,sterile, non-bacteriostatic NS in our picc kits for use during insertions. If we need more we pull out a couple of 10cc bottles pop the tops and clean them with alcohol prior to opening our kits and sit them just off our sterile field. We use a sterile needle attached to a syringe, and with our sterile gloves on, access the bottle, invert it, and draw out the saline. We use the sterile needle cap to push the bottle off or flick it off-into the trash if we're good- to remain sterile. If you need non bacteriostatic saline in your kits -talk to your rep about supplying that for you.

[IVRN72]

Great Idea!, Thanks

[acosgro]

New 2006 Infusion Nursing Standards states that any patient should not receive more than 30 ml of Bacteriostatic Saline in 24 hours and that we should use single dose NACL for routine flushes because of potential neurotoxicity. infants and especially neonates should not receive any Bacteriostatic Saline, they are more likely to the demonstrate neurotoxicity than older children and adults.