policy for flushing INT's

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Specializes in level 2 nursery.

I was just wondering how other hospitals flush their newborn INT's. We use .5 ml normal saline and .5 ml heparin(10 units/per ml) every 4 hours. I have heard that some places are just flushing with saline and some are every 6-8 hours. Thanks.

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Specializes in NICU.

I'm not familiar with the acronym INT... If we're talking about peripheral IVs that are not in continuous use, we flush at least qshift with straight saline. I flush at the beginning of my shift (to make sure I won't have to start a new one in a rush when that antibiotic is due) and at the end (to make sure the next shift can't say I left them with a bum IV). We use prefilled 2.5mL syringes, and I use just enough to be confident in the patency of the IV.

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

INT- "Intermittent Needleless Therapy"

aka. Saline/heparin lock.

Ditto to what Elizabells said....

I came from a unit that flushed with 10/1ml NS/heparin flushes, and when I came here and used plain NS flushes, saw no difference in catheters clotting off.

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Specializes in NICU.

Heh, intermittent needleless therapy sounds much smarter than saline lock :).

We use NS and flush with cares. It works as well as anything, I guess. We still lose a lot, but overall it is effective.

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We do not flush peripherial lines with anything but NSS and every 6 hours. I'm surprised, after all the incidences, that places still flush peripheral lines with heparin.

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Specializes in level 2 nursery.
We do not flush peripherial lines with anything but NSS and every 6 hours. I'm surprised, after all the incidences, that places still flush peripheral lines with heparin.

That is why I want to know what others are doing. We are a smaller unit and our nursery CQI is looking into this issue, We transport a lot of infants to Denver and they still use Heparin to flush but I have seen some research that it really does not make that much difference.

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Specializes in NICU.

We flush our unused lines q 12 with 5-10 units of heparin, depending on the doctor. I have personally experienced a line clot off....it was some exotic double lumen tunneled brachial line from picu...I gave a med around 9 pm and flushed with saline afterwards...well, the heparin flush was due at 3 am or something and the pump kept beeping occlusion...the line was clotted. Couldn't push anything in or pull back whatsoever. Thank god it was a double lumen...PIV's are flushed with saline.

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Specializes in NICU.

We flush with 1cc of saline Q6.

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Specializes in NICU, adult med-tele.
INT- "Intermittent Needleless Therapy"

OMG! I have been a nurse for 6 ys and never really knew what that stood for... :p

we started about a year ago just using saline, when we made that switch we changed from flushing every 8 hours to every 4. We all whined about it at first but it has made no difference in the amount of lines that we lose.

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Specializes in NICU.

We flush our lines that are not in continuous use with saline q6 hours or so (with vital signs). They also get flushed before (and after) use. Our newborn nursery that has term kids with IVs for antibiotics also flushes with this same policy.

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We don't have a standard on how often they need to be flushed....the nurse just flushes when they feel the need! We use either saline or 0.45NS + 0.5units hep/ml. Our hep flushes are pre mixed vials from pharmacy. No mixing is done in the unit.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

We only flush PIV's with NS. 0.5 to 1ml with every cares.

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