ddexter

@ Sun0408, That's exactly what I meant. Sorry for the confusion!

Thanks for the wealth of information everyone!

Once again thanks for the responses!

@ juan de la cruz Your statement that "Hand washing alone is sufficient and sterile gloves are not necessary for administering IV" is contradictory to that of SoldierNurse22. Thanks for the info on the disposable caps.

@SoldierNurse22 I am sorry if I've been unclear in my question. By 'Central line' I meant a triple lumen catheter inserted into the SVC. I see that you have understood it to be a subcutaneous port accessed via a Huber needle. Examples: The triple lumen catheter; The triple lumen catheter in place As you can see, each lumen of the CV line ends in a luer port, to this a valve is connected, followed by a cap. I gather that all three (hand wash, sterile gloves and scrubbing the luer port) is mandatory before injecting any medication through the port. Suppose you are giving an infusion over 4-6 hours, you have to remove the blue cap and give the the infusion via the valve/luer port. Once the cap is removed, how is it kept sterile till the infusion ends and is it safe to replace? If it is unsafe to replace, should the valve be left open (although it will not allow backflow)? I have seen some people wrapping the 3 lumens with a sterile guaze rather then letting them lie like this. That's why I asked. Another thing, at the entry site a biopatch is usually used instead of the guaze as shown in the picture. However this makes daily inspection of the site impossible. What is your stand on this?

I have a few doubts lurking in my mind regarding the handling a CV line port during IV administration for which I could not find satisfactory/consistent answers by searching. Hence I'm asking them here. Is hand hygiene and a 'no touch technique' of the ports sufficient or is a sterile glove mandatory prior to every use of the port? Is cleaning of the ports with an alcohol/chlorhexidine based antiseptic solution mandatory before every use of the port? How can the cap (which has been removed from the port for an IV infusion) of the CV line port kept sterile till the IV infusion gets completed? Is it safe to use it again or a new cap is required after each infusion? Is it the usual practice everywhere to have the individual lines (lumens) of the CV line (for example the three lines of a triple lumen catheter) 'dressed' with a sterile gauze pack? Not doing so makes the lumens gets separated in different directions and sometimes they get contaminated by reaching unsterile areas like the hairy chest.