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Carla Yusufi
Type of cap needed for intermittent infusion therapy

Could someone please help me to determine what the standard is for capping off tubing during intermittent infusion? Is a sterile dead end/luer protective cap necessary? Can one use the cap that comes on the flush? What is best practice?

lynncrni
INS standards of practice
INS standards of practice state that a new sterile end cap should be placed on the male luer end of the intermittent administration set after it has been used and will be used again in the near future. Lynn

Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI

Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.

PO Box 10

Milner, GA 30257

Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com

Office Phone 770-358-7861

Carla Yusufi
is the cap on a prefilled
is the cap on a prefilled flush considered sterile?
lynncrni
Yes, it is sterile when you
Yes, it is sterile when you remove it from the syringe. This issue then becomes what is done to it between removal from the syringe and attaching to the tubing. Is it closed in the nurses hand? Is it laid down on the bedside table or bed sheets? All of these actions would contaminate it. If you can guarantee that all nurses would take it directly from the syringe to the tubing then it could work I suppose. A new sterile tip cap would always be better though. Lynn

Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI

Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.

PO Box 10

Milner, GA 30257

Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com

Office Phone 770-358-7861

Peter Marino
I directed this same

I directed this same question to  one of the prefilled syringe Rep's. Their response was: "It would be considered off label product use and that they preferred that it not be used in that manner." 

 

 

[quote=Carla Yusufi] Can one use the cap that comes on the flush? What is best practice?[/quote]

Peter Marino R.N. BSN CRNI VA-BC Hospital based staff R.N. with no affiliation to any product or health care company.

Kristin Walker
Our nurses here tend to take

Our nurses here tend to take the open end of the tubing and connect to one of the ports on the tubing (after cleaning it with alcohol, I hope ( :).  Several staff members have asked me if this is acceptable practice.  Any opions on this?  If the cap from the syringe gets lossed, would the next best thing to is to cap off with a sterile needle?

Kristin Walker RN, BSN, OCN Maui Memorial Medical Center IV dept.

Peter Marino
Hopefully one of the experts

Hopefully one of the experts will chime in but my $.02 is...

 I really dislike this practice of plugging back in the same tubing, for a few reasons. There are sterile caps available from a few manufacturers to properly cap with. I believe they cost about  two cents a piece (someone correct if I'm wrong). Using a sterile needle to cap with is great fodder for a law suit. Especially in light of OSHA standards pushing toward a needleless enviroment.

[quote=Kristin Walker] Our nurses here tend to take the open end of the tubing and connect to one of the ports on the tubing (after cleaning it with alcohol, I hope ( :).  Several staff members have asked me if this is acceptable practice.  Any opions on this?  If the cap from the syringe gets lossed, would the next best thing to is to cap off with a sterile needle?[/quote]

Peter Marino R.N. BSN CRNI VA-BC Hospital based staff R.N. with no affiliation to any product or health care company.

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