Question

How does the nurse determine the amount of fluid needed to flush the lock?

I am talking about flushing a peripheral saline lock.

jkirkwoo · Accepted Answer

A lot of facilities have saline flushes already made up for nurses to use. This way nurses do not have to determine the amount of fluid needed to flush a lock. The most common saline flush for a peripheral saline lock flush is 5cc of normal saline.

It is also very important for nurses to make sure that the predrawn up flush is normal saline and not some other type of flush such as a...

It is also very important for nurses to make sure that the predrawn up flush is normal saline and not some other type of flush such as a heparin flush. Heparin flushes are used in the PICC's. When flushing PICC's and administering medicine in PICC's you can use the saying "SASH" to help you remember the order.

Saline

Administer Medication

Saline

Heparin

or "SASH"

stacyer · Answer

Usually, a fundamental skills text is used to determine the amount of saline needed to flush a lock. This information is gathered from research articles and manufacturers' recommendations. A facility (e.g. hospital) uses this information to create a policy. Based upon the information in these texts, a "regular" saline flush (peripheral lock) requires 3 ml of normal saline. A PICC or CVC line requires 10 ml of normal saline.

sgltai · Answer

after trying by aspiration you can inject 5cc of normal saline

kdsmom49 · Answer

The nurse would flush a peripheral SL with 5cc of saline. The PICC or Power port would be flushed with 10cc.

How does the nurse determine the amount of fluid needed to flush the lock?I am talking about flushing a peripheral saline lock.

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