Review Article
Flushing and Locking of Venous Catheters: Available Evidence and Evidence Deficit
Table 1
Flushing and locking recommendations.
| Flushing recommendations |
| Technique | Use a pulsatile flow when flushing | Use a flush with 10 × 1 mL boluses with a time interval of 0.4 s between 2 boluses | Use SAS and SBS order for the administration of mediation/fluids and blood sampling procedures |
| Volume | Use a 10 mL flush for all IV catheters (except for peripheral cannulas, use 5 mL) | Use a 20 mL flush after infusion of viscous products like blood components, parenteral nutrition, and contrast media |
| Regimen | Flush with NS before and after administration of drugs of fluids (SAS) | Flush with NS before and after blood sampling (SBS) |
| Locking recommendations |
| Technique | Use the positive pressure technique when disconnecting a syringe | Close clamps and let them closed when not in use |
| Volume | 1.0 mL for peripheral cannulas | 1.5 mL for midlines, PICCs, nontunnelled CVCs, and small bore tunnelled catheters (≤1 mm ID) | 2.5 mL for large bore tunnelled catheters (>1 mm ID) and TIVADs (reservoir volume up to 0.6 mL, Huber needle volume not included) |
| Regimen | q8h–q24h for short-term catheters | Weekly in long-term catheters | q6w–q8w in TIVADs |
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