Flushing my Central Line { Day +89 }

Since my appointment now at PMH is once every 2 weeks, I am responsible for my hickman line. This means I have to flushed it once a week to prevent from blocking. I've been doing this at home twice already, December 13th and December 27th...

FACTS: Procedure for Flushing/Locking Your Catheter (PMH)

1. Get equipment ready: Alcohol wipes, Normal Saline flush, Heparin flush, Gloves
2. Wash your hands with soap and water.
3. Put on gloves.
4. Clean the end of needleless valve cap with an alcohol wipe. Be careful not to touch the end of the needleless valve cap after cleaning. If you should accidentally touch the end of the ccap, the cap must be cleaned again with a new alcohol wipe.
5. Remove the protective cover from the saline syringe (be careful not to touch the open end of the syringe) and using a twisting motion attach the syringe to the end of the needleless valve cap.
6. Unclamp the catheter.
7. Inject the saline, close the clamp.
8. Clamp the catheter and unscrew syringe and discard.
9. Remove the protective cover from the saline syringe (be careful not to touch the open end of the syringe) and using a twisting motion attach the syringe to the end of the needleless valve cap.
10. Unclamp the catheter.
11. Inject the heparin slowly until 1mL of the solution remains. Begin to close the clamp on the catheter while injecting 0.5 mL of the remaining solution. It is very important to keep pressure on the plunger of the syringe while clamping. This creates a positive pressure lock that will stop the blood from coming back into the catheter once the clamp is closed.
12. Once the catheter is clamped, remove the syringe. It is best to hold onto the needleless valve cap when removing the syringe so not to accidentally loosen the connection.
13. Ensure the the needleless valve cap is securely attached to the catheter
14. Repeat steps 4-12 for other lumens.

This is how I do this. I post this so just in case I will lost my copy on how to flush my line, I can always come to my site and read it.