what is a buffalo cap?

styRN · Feb 4, 2007

Buffalo cap = Heparin/saline lock. Also called buff-caps, I believe it originally referred to a brand name of locks.

muffie, RN · Feb 4, 2007

oh wow

Nursonegreat · Feb 5, 2007

when i worked in denver,co they were called BuffCaps...i was like what is a buff cap. they said, its a buffalo cap. i said ok, what is a buffalo cap. they said its a hep trap. i said why buffalo cap. they said they thought it was cause they were invented in buffalo. ok i am from buffalo and went to a school of nursing in buffalo and i never heard it called a buffcap. so i have no idea where it came from. we call em traps, hep traps, saline locks. go figure

michellemybelle · Feb 5, 2007

I go to school in Denver. These are called "buffalo caps" or "buff caps" because they were created here at University of Colorado Medical Center. The University's mascot is the buffalo.

Hope that clears it up!

Michelle

GingerSue · Feb 5, 2007

thanks for the explanations

I will never forget them.

WhiteLily · Mar 31, 2009

Thank you all, for the questions and for the answers. It's nice to know why things are called the way they are.

Lily79 · Mar 31, 2009

This is so funny because I was just talking to a coworker the other day about this. She is from Colorado, and they called them "buffalo caps" there. I'm in Michigan now, and when someone was talking about a saline lock, I never knew what they were saying. I'm from Texas and we called them INTs there.

Chewie_123 · Mar 31, 2009

I went to school/did clinicals up in Denver, and we called them buff caps. I get a job in Colorado Springs (60ish miles south) and no one knew what a buff cap was cause its a saline/hep lock down here. It was a bit confusing for the first shift or two...