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Discussion

Hep Lock Confusion

I am a New Grad and I have a question about hep-locked Iv's. I understand it means that you have to flush the IV with Heparin in order to cap it off. Does that mean that everytime you open the IV or Central Line back up and close it - you have to flush it again with Heparin. What if the IV is not accessed for a day or two? Is it your responsibility to look at the chart and realize that it needed a heparin flush. If it has been capped consecutively and unused, could you just flush with Saline or is the Hep Lock always needed???

THANK YOU

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PIVs normally aren't flushed with heparin anymore...just saline. So technically, the phrase to use is "saline locked," but in the real world both terms are used, and generally refer to saline locks. Check out your hospitals policy on flushing unused ivs and central lines...the policies differ from place to place. Some places still use heparin for central lines, some are only using saline.

Like the above poster said, your hospital should have a policy in place that determines not only what kind of solution is used, but also how often. I think the standard is Q8 or Q12 hours in most places with most lines.

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