Do you always put heparin in your central lines with continuous IV fluids?
Do you find lines clot if you do not use heparin?
Do you use ETOH locks on your CVCs? And if yes, which patients.
How often do you dreak into the CVC to administer medications
Do you maintain a KVO rate or cap off between medication administration when not continuous?
Do you caps to cover your mechanical access valves?
What is you CVC infection rate?
Thank you in advance for any feedback you can provide.
I have answered in the order your questions have been presented
1. No we don't routinely use Heparin in continuous IV fluids
2. No we don't find they clot if we don't use Heparin
3. Yes we do use ETOH locks for some CVC's - in the Home PN patients only
4. Unfortunately our CVC's may be accessed regularly but if double lumen then fluids are sometimes run concurrently to reduce access but allows for alternate lumen administrationof IV antibiotics (current protocol for suspected line infections)
5. We usually run a KVO rate but there are sometimes when they are capped off to allow mobilisation or some leave from the Hospital etc - flexible!
6. Contentious issue - the current protocol is to not cap over the mecahnical access valve - except at home when we don't use the valve and they are capped -
7. We don't have a dedicated team/person to monitor the infection rate so it is difficult to get those data.
regards................ Karen
Karen Rankin
Clinical Nurse Consultant
the Children's Hospital at Westmead - Australia
The INS Flushing and Locking cards have a pediatric/neonatal section written by peds/neonatal infusion specialists. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
126 Main Street, PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861