Saline or Heparin for arterial lines

[RenayCCRN]

My hospital is changing from heparinized saline for arterial pressure lines to saline. In my unit (burns) we draw alot of blood samples from our arterial lines and they tend to stay in for protracted periods of time. Has anyone else gone through this switch and what knowledge of experience do you have to share on this topic.

[Marty225]

we have recently switched to saline

[ACNP-Ray]

We use both, depends mostly on how they come back from the Cath lab. And for those pt's who come to us not from the Cath lab who need an Art line it's our choice which one we start them on.

[shortode]

We have been using saline for pressure lines as well. Can anyone tell of a resource (book, journal article, etc) that we can use as a reference for our policy & procedure manual?

[Hygeia79]

We use both..