picc lines????

Melina · Jul 18, 2009

With both peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) and ports, the distal end of the tubing is usually positioned within the superior vena cava. PICCs are inserted into one of the peripheral veins in the upper arm, while implanted ports are inserted into the subclavian vein or jugular vein and attached to a fluid reservoir placed in a surgically created subcutaneous pocket on the upper chest, or into an arm vein with a peripheral port pocket.

Different hospitals have different policies. We never flush with heparin unless there is a clog. Do you have a preceptor, mentor or nurse educator available? I would get with him or her ASAP. This forum is really helpful and supportive, but it should not be the first place anyone turns for such info. There is probably a nursing skills book that has been designated as the reference manual for your unit/hospital that would also be a great resource. I would hate to see someone follow some erroneous advice and try to explain to their NM: "But they told me to do it that way on AllNurses.com!"

~Mel'

erin01 · Jul 18, 2009

no i by no means mean for this to be my only resource i just wanted to hear what they were. I was planning on asking my preceptor on tuesday when i am working again but thought to ask here to see how others would it explain it. I would never just take adv from here with out checking out my hospital policy...dont worry=) :yeah:

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Jul 18, 2009

Our hospital policy is to flush unused ports on our PICCs with heparin flush solution (10 units/mL) q12h minimum, and after each time it's accessed. If we've got an intermittent med we're giving q6h for example, the port would then be flushed q6h.

A_Simp · Jul 26, 2009

At our facility, we only access PICC lines 2x a day and flush with 10cc NS. Porta caths are accessed by the IV nurse. Luckily, on my floor we don't see too many porta caths just PICCs or Vas Caths.

mzjennx, BSN, RN · Aug 4, 2009

I work in med-surg/oncology. We have PICC and portacath. I personally havent worked with a patient with a accessed portacath. I have worked with patients with PICC.

We normally flush PICC q shifts if it is help-lock or intermittent infusion device. Depending on the patient the protocol for our hospital is SASH with turbulent motion: saline, addictive/antibotic, saline, heparin. We flush with 10cc NS and 2cc Heparin 100units. If the patient has a low platelet count, we flush with 20cc Saline instead.

I hope this helps.

⚕annanonymous⚕ · Aug 11, 2009

We flush our PICCs each shift with 1cc of Heparin

BBQvegan · Aug 21, 2009

There is more than one type of PICC. Any open-ended PICC (you will know because it has a clamp) should be flushed with NS and heparin per protocol. However, a closed-ended PICC (no clamps) has a valve on the end (in the vena cava) that prevents backflow of blood and reduces risk of clotting. These only need NS, and no heparin. You can see why no clamp is needed, because no backflow of blood. Oh how I love central lines :-P -- IVs suck in comparison!