Waste not want not

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Is there a way to flush a IV line that has IV med running in it,you have to flush cause air is in the line,without wasting the med? I heard a nurse say she puts the med back in the bag after flushing the line,but I dont know how the hell she did it and maintains sterility.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

My guess is that she uses a syringe to draw up from a port, air and med would come out, expel the air and reinsert the med.

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Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Like badbird said. Also sometimes you can flick the tubing with your finger and the bubble will rise back up into the bag.

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You can also stand there and watch the air bubble until it gets to a connection, disconnect and expell the air, then reconnect.

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just the other day I had an ICU nurse show me this trick: twist the tubing around your pen, and this will sqeeze the bubble back into the bag.... I tried it and it worked well, and easily!

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I am sure some will disagree but a nursing instructor told me it took about 15cc of air to be a problem in a line (except an art line) and then she showed me that you can't actually get that much air in most lines so I quit worring about "little" bubbles.

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Yeah, I don't worry unless it's a lot of air...not going to kil them...but the pen trick does work, I have done it before.

Amanda :)

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