Zofran Pumps & PICC Lines

[Alison]

There are different types???? What types are there? What is the difference between them? Why was it that you did not have to flush yours?

[aaronsmommy]

The sub Q and the IV Zofran are actually the same kind, and yes, with a double lumen you can run the zofran pump through the PICC line at the same time as fluids. I did it this way most of the time.
If all you run are fluids (no medications and no TPN), you can actually run the Zofran pump with a single lumen picc line with a little thingy called a y-connector.

There is no way to keep anything completely sterile, EVER.

[Kellie]

I have a Zofran pump running continuously through my single lumen PICC right now. It is the same Zofran that we used sub-Q. I also run fluids simultaneously. I have the Y shaped attachment at the end of the PICC so that two things can be running at once. It's nice because I don't have to use saline and herparin because the Zofran is constantly running through the PICC and keeping everything flowing.

[aaronsmommy]

The zofran is very thick, and I found that when I didn't flush that port every day it would get sluggish and sometimes stop flowing, and require a lot of pressure with a flush to flow again. If you run your fluids quickly when you run them, it may not be a problem, but as much as I HATED the flushes, I would do at least a small saline flush every day to make sure that my line continued working.

[Kellie]

The zofran is very thick, and I found that when I didn't flush that port every day it would get sluggish and sometimes stop flowing, and require a lot of pressure with a flush to flow again. If you run your fluids quickly when you run them, it may not be a problem, but as much as I HATED the flushes, I would do at least a small saline flush every day to make sure that my line continued working.

Thanks, that is good to know! I run my fluids at 125ml/hr at night so that I can get a full night's sleep (although I always end up needing to pee at 3 AM anyway LOL). I will try flushing a bit each day to make sure things are flowing well.