OBJECTIVES: The use of flushing is one of the strategies to prevent catheter failure. The aim of this study was to evaluate the clinical effectiveness and benefits both for patients and healthcare workers of two different flushing syringes: pre-filled and manually filled. METHODS: English and Chinese observational studies and RCTs published between 1974 to Mar 2015 were identified by asystematic literature search using Pubmed, Embase, the Cochrane Library, CNKI, WanFang Data and VIP databases. The search terms used were: flush, pre-filled saline syringes and pre-loaded syringes. RevMan 5.3 Software was used to analyze the data. RESULTS: In total, 1087 English-language studies and 129 Chinese-language studies were retrieved initially, 46 of them were identified for a further analysis. As for patient benefits, using pre-filled flush syringes can reduce catheter-related blood stream infections (odds ration [OR] 0.23, 95% CI: 0.16, 0.34, P<0.00001, I=0%), reduce occlusions (OR 0.38, 95% CI:0.24, 0.60, P<0.0001, I=77%) reduce phlebitis (OR 0.44, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.58, P<0.00001, I=18%) and extend catheter indwell time (weighted mean difference [WMD] 0.51d, 95% CI: 0.34, 0.67, P<0.00001, I=99%). As for healthcare workers benefits, pre-filled flush syringes can reduce risk of needlestick injuries (OR 0.17, 95% CI: 0.06, 0.45, P=0.0004, I=0%). The analysis also demonstrated that using pre-filled flush syringes is associated with a reduction in flushing time (WMD -1.37min, 95% CI:-1.56, -1.18, P<0.00001, I=100%). The robustness of the results was confirmed by sensitivity analysis. CONCLUSIONS: This meta-analysis suggests that prefilled flush syringes have the advantages of reducing catheter complications needlestick injuries, extending catheter indwell time, as well as reducing flushing time. An analysis of this type is inherently limited by the heterogeneity of patient populations, protocols for catheter insertion and site care, devices used and study design.