TY - JOUR
T1 - How often should peripheral intravenous catheters in ambulatory patients be flushed?
AU - Campbell, Samuel G.
AU - Trojanowski, Jan
AU - Ackroyd-Stolarz, Stacy A.
PY - 2005
Y1 - 2005
N2 - Ambulatory intravenous (IV) treatment is frequently prescribed to be administered every 24 hours. Institutional protocols commonly recommend flushing catheters every 8 hours. The authors sought to identify whether flushing more than once every 24 hours conferred any benefit. A retrospective review compared complication rates of different catheter flushing intervals for patients receiving IV therapy. This study investigated 111 courses of treatment for 63 patients. In 43% of the patients (48/111), complications were identified during the treatment period. Complications were less common with flushing every 24 hours (39/99, 39.4%) than with more frequent flushing (9/12, 75%) (P = .021). Indwelling peripheral IV catheters flushed once every 24 hours appear to have lower complication rates than those flushed 2 or 3 times a day.
AB - Ambulatory intravenous (IV) treatment is frequently prescribed to be administered every 24 hours. Institutional protocols commonly recommend flushing catheters every 8 hours. The authors sought to identify whether flushing more than once every 24 hours conferred any benefit. A retrospective review compared complication rates of different catheter flushing intervals for patients receiving IV therapy. This study investigated 111 courses of treatment for 63 patients. In 43% of the patients (48/111), complications were identified during the treatment period. Complications were less common with flushing every 24 hours (39/99, 39.4%) than with more frequent flushing (9/12, 75%) (P = .021). Indwelling peripheral IV catheters flushed once every 24 hours appear to have lower complication rates than those flushed 2 or 3 times a day.
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U2 - 10.1097/00129804-200511000-00007
DO - 10.1097/00129804-200511000-00007
M3 - Review article
C2 - 16304498
AN - SCOPUS:28344438290
SN - 1533-1458
VL - 28
SP - 399
EP - 404
JO - Journal of Infusion Nursing
JF - Journal of Infusion Nursing
IS - 6
ER -