Flushing PIV with clot

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hi all! Today I discharged a young healthy pt. I noticed their PIV had some residual blood in it a couple cm long. I think it was there for several hours. Before discharging the pt I needed to give an IV medication so I pulled back and had brisk blood return. For some reason I just flushed it all back in. I gave the pt the med and DC'd the IV and discharged them home.

I am probably thinking too much about this - but would that residual clot potentially cause harm to the patient? I imagine any clot flushed through a peripheral line would dissipate in the capillaries. I know best practice would have been to draw back and discard the clot and the waste - I wish I had done that!

My patient left with no harm seen, but I think I'm obsessing about this and would appreciate an objective perspective. Thank you!

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If there was a clot you would have difficulty flushing and have sluggish/no blood return. The blood in the extension tubing is normal as you are in the vein. Don't worry, the pt will be fine.

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Specializes in anesthesiology.
If there was a clot you would have difficulty flushing and have sluggish/no blood return. The blood in the extension tubing is normal as you are in the vein. Don't worry, the pt will be fine.

I second, pt will be fine.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, Geriatrics, Wound Care.

It is probably hard to push an actual clot through a PIV catheter.

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