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.
Dec 5, '02
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.
Dec 5, '02
Like badbird said. Also sometimes you can flick the tubing with your finger and the bubble will rise back up into the bag.
Dec 7, '02
You can also stand there and watch the air bubble until it gets to a connection, disconnect and expell the air, then reconnect.
Dec 7, '02
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!
Dec 8, '02
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.
Dec 8, '02
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
Dec 5, '02Occupation: Critical Care Joined: Aug '00; Posts: 2,629; Likes: 20My 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.
Dec 5, '02Occupation: RN-i (RETIRED) Specialty: ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89 ; From: US ; Joined: May '00; Posts: 14,479; Likes: 2,298Like badbird said. Also sometimes you can flick the tubing with your finger and the bubble will rise back up into the bag.
