Flushing IV line

kgoode0919 · Nov 30, 2014

My facility requires at least 15ml. Each facility should have a protocol I'm place.

kgoode0919 · Nov 30, 2014

in place* ?

RN403, BSN, RN · Nov 30, 2014

10 cc flush. Like PP stated, might depend on facility policy or nurse preference.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Dec 2, 2014

If piggybacked through the B side of a pump, we usually did 25 mL because that was the size of our normal saline mini bags.

NurseStorm, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2015

Wow 25 ml?? In a peds patient? I guess everyone else's pumps must be quite different if you always do that? For us, we use a mini syringe pump that the micro tubing hooks to the lowest port of the iv tubing. Therefore you only have to flush with about 2-3ml (the tubing itself is 0.8ml only). A lot of our youngest patient's IV's may only being going at 6-10ml/hr etc, so 25 would be a lot of extra fluid.

For older children with faster IV rates that we don't require the mini syringe pump, we will just hook it on to the iv pump (which is a hospira plum a+) usually as a syringe, or in a minibag if required for the specific med. Then we flush with about 10-15ml to account for the tubing from the pump to the patient.

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2015

Wow 25 ml?? In a peds patient? I guess everyone else's pumps must be quite different if you always do that? For us, we use a mini syringe pump that the micro tubing hooks to the lowest port of the iv tubing. Therefore you only have to flush with about 2-3ml (the tubing itself is 0.8ml only). A lot of our youngest patient's IV's may only being going at 6-10ml/hr etc, so 25 would be a lot of extra fluid.
For older children with faster IV rates that we don't require the mini syringe pump, we will just hook it on to the iv pump (which is a hospira plum a+) usually as a syringe, or in a minibag if required for the specific med. Then we flush with about 10-15ml to account for the tubing from the pump to the patient.

If piggy backed on the B line, yes. If the antibiotic was dispensed by the pharmacy in a bag as opposed to a syringe, it was at least 75 mL of med and for a bigger kid. Any volumes 60 mL or less were dispensed in a syringe. Those were administered on a syringe pump and flushed with 5-10 mL afterward. 6 mL/hr is maintenance fluid for a 1.5 kg baby. Presumably a baby that small would be in the NICU and the doses of their meds would be so small that pharmacy wouldn't send up antibiotics in a bag that required a larger flush volume.

~PedsRN~, BSN, RN · Oct 31, 2015

It really depends on the line and the kid. A syringe pump I flush with three. The pump I usually flush with ten or so.

NurseStorm, BSN, RN · Nov 12, 2015

If piggy backed on the B line, yes. If the antibiotic was dispensed by the pharmacy in a bag as opposed to a syringe, it was at least 75 mL of med and for a bigger kid. Any volumes 60 mL or less were dispensed in a syringe. Those were administered on a syringe pump and flushed with 5-10 mL afterward. 6 mL/hr is maintenance fluid for a 1.5 kg baby. Presumably a baby that small would be in the NICU and the doses of their meds would be so small that pharmacy wouldn't send up antibiotics in a bag that required a larger flush volume.

Oh okay thank you for the clarification! We very rarely to never give 75ml volumes to kids unless probably adolescent age. We mix all our meds, and only occasionally do they need to go in mini bags, depending on the drug guide, most are syringe on the main pump (even for our adults) or mini syringe pump, meaning mixing volumes between 1-5 ml for smallest babies, and 10-20ml for most children/adolescents/adults. However, if they were getting this large of a dose for a med, it wouldn't be so strange to flush with 25.

6ml/hr wouldn't usually be a maintenance, but more of a half maintenance. I guess I shouldn't say "most" more like some of our smaller babies have a rate of 6 I am always cautious with IV fluids/flushes as most of our patients are respiratory and we don't want to fluid overload them with excessive flushes when not necessary. So it's kind of an unwritten policy to always flush and mix meds to the minimum volume for our smaller and younger patients especially. Once they are older, we aren't as concerned with that.