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theresa murphy
IV tubing change times

INS standards states that intermittant tubing (ie., piggyback for antibiotics) must be changed every 24 hours.  My current policy is change in 72 hours just like continious IV tubing.   What are other hospitals doing?  This change would be a huge expense.

Glenda Dennis
Our policy is to change
Our policy is to change primary tubing every 96 hours and intermittant tubing every 24 hours.  We use the same intermittant set for most antibiotics and back flush.  Our biggest challenge is to make sure the tubings are tagged with the date it is hung so it is clear when the tubing needs to be changed.  The primary tubing change from 72 to 96 hours is recent so I don't have much data to rely on regarding infections, but it doesn't appear that there is an increase in numbers of infections.
Cynthia Liette
The 2006 INS standards for
The 2006 INS standards for continuous tubing change is 72 hours and the standard for intermittent tubing is 24 hours.  The 96 hour standard is from CDC guidelines was published in 2002.  When doing 96 hours, the nurses were less likely to pay attention to the tubing and site changes.  We have recently gone back to the 72 hours based on the most recent guidelines. 
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