The flushing procedure in nursing practices: A cross-sectional study with Portuguese and Brazilian nurses

In patients with peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs), performing flushing is an essential procedure to maintain catheter patency and prevent complications. These PIVC related complications can lead to premature removal and therapeutics interruption, which implies the need of a new catheterization thus increasing patient discomfort and pain.

To identify nursing practices related to the flushing procedure, namely: moment(s) of the flushing; the syringe size used; the flush solution, volume and technique; the knowledge and accomplishment of the recommended standards on flushing by nurses.

A cross-sectional study was conducted between July and December 2017, with Brazilian and Portuguese nurses. An online questionnaire was developed based on the international recommendations on flushing procedure. Descriptive analysis was performed.

A total of 76 nurses answered the questionnaire. The majority of nurses (84.2%) performed flushing: the most common technique used was continuous syringe pressure (31.2%), with the push-pause technique being performed by 23.4% of the nurses. Despite the majority performs flushing at four distinct moments (after the PIVC insertion, before, between and after drug delivery), there are inconsistencies in flush solution, volume, and syringe size. The most used volume to perform flushing was 5 mL, filled using normal saline. Despite this, they also recognized the omission of this procedure due to time constrains, no familiarity with the procedure and unavailable material.

This study identified that flushing procedure isn't always performed by nurses in their clinical practice. Also, several inconsistencies were observed between nurses that performed flushing, reflecting the lack of empirical evidence in this area of research.