a few nursing questions...

You should never disconnect a patient from heparin without dr's order to allow it.Central lines are only flushed once a day where i am, heplocks are q shift. and usually nothing is ever piggybacked into a pca/y port. Maybe only nss, if flushes are needed....

is it ok to disconnect a patient for a shower if he/she is on an IV heparin infusion??

also

how often do u flush central lines? TID? BID?

and...

are you allowed to piggyback meds through a patients PCA line (if your patient is on a PCA pump recieving morphine)?

agree with above post. I would never risk losing the IV for the PCA by infusing another med as you might not get another vein easily and that would add to the patient's discomfort. Plus, so few things are compatible with narcs. When you explain to the patient that a new IV is necessary so as not to lose the PCA they usually agree.

is it ok to disconnect a patient for a shower if he/she is on an IV heparin infusion??

Agree with the previous poster, I would not disconnect Heparin without a physician's order. Heparin is very short acting and the PTT would drop very quickly.

how often do u flush central lines? TID? BID?

At my hospital, it is our policy to flush the ports of central lines once a shift. Obviously, if there is fluid running in one of the ports, we would only flush the ports that were not being used. According to our policy, with each flush, we are also to assess the integrity of the insertion site and dressing for s/s of infection and document this.

are you allowed to piggyback meds through a patients PCA line (if your patient is on a PCA pump recieving morphine)?

Again, I would reiterate what has already been said, I would keep the PCA line pure and not hang any other fluids (with the exception of supporting fluid like NS or LR). Patients that have PCA's running most generally also have antibiotics (IV) ordered. It would be prudent to start another IV line for the AB infusions.

Hope this helps.

PS - Yea for me .... this was my 1,000 post!!!!!! :balloons: :rotfl: