Our hospital utilizes the chemo lock product for our chemo preparations. One issue we have run into are small volume chemo < 1ml. To affix a needle to the chemo syringe with a chemo lock the nurse is to affix a chemo port to the chemo lock. The problem is the lost volume of ~0.13-0.15 from the port. This lost volume can be substantial in low volume doses of chemo.

For hospitals that utilize chemo locks for their chemo preparations, what do you have your nurses do to affix the needle to the syringe?

1) Do they simply remove the chemo lock and affix the needle to the syringe?
2) Or does pharmacy draw up an additional volume to take into account the volume loss in the chemo port? Our concerns with this practice is the potential of nurses administering the additional dose.