Heparin containing maintance solutions and flushes for PIV

[01bgent]

Hello,

I have recently came to a new NICU and all of their maintance solutions contain 1 unit/mL of heparin and their flushes also contain 1 unit/mL of heparin. I am attempting to reach out and discover if this is a common practice in other NICUs.

Thanks ahead of time.

[babyNP., APRN]

Heparin has been documented in research that it does not make a peripheral IV last longer and we only use saline to flush our lines.

Central lines are a different matter. We generally have something running through them at all times and generally use 1unit/mL of fluid of heparin. If we have a broviac that we're not using, we'll flush 30 units of heparin every 12 hours or so.

[rnkaytee]

We use 1 u/ml of Heparin in our central lines - if I dc a UAC/UVC and start a PIV I won't get too bent out of shape if the heparin runs for a while, but it's not ordered that way normally for PIVs. We flush our HLs with 0.5 - 1 ml of 10 U/ml of Heparin (yes, I'm trying to get our policy change but you know, its change so good luck to me).

[katierobin23]

We used to do heparin in PIVs, but switched to saline a few months ago. I haven't noticed a significant difference in how long they stay in if they're flushed q3.

Our PICCs and UVCs have 0.5unit/ml running and we flush with 0.5-1ml of a 2unit/ml concentration. PICCs get flushed q6, UVCs get flushed q12. (And after any use, obviously)

[NICURN29]

We do not use heparin for PIVs. For maintenance fluids and flushes in central lines, we add 0.5 units of heparin per mL of fluid.

[ckey01]

Similar to the others, we do not use heparin in our PIVs. PICC, UVC/UAC, and central lines we use 1u/mL in whatever fluid is running. We also flush 2nd ports with 1ml of heparin every 6 hours.