What is your frequency of saline flush for pediatric patients? If it is not being used for meds, do you flush every 4 hours? Every 8 hours?
We will be updating our policy and need info about this. Currently, the practice is every 4 hours. But I am wondering, why not every 8 hours?
Gwen Irwin
Austin, Texas
Our policy calls for every 8 hour flushes on unused PIVs. However, the policy allows for more frequent flushing for patients with poor venous access or patients that seem to be prone to frequent clotting of their IV. Our policy is written to allow the nurse to use her judgment on individual patients.