Importance of nurses training in reducing the incidence of phlebitis in patients with peripheral intravenous catheters

• Autor(a) principal: Oliveira, Anabela de Sousa Salgueiro
• Data de Publicação: 2012
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: eng
• Título da fonte: Repositório Científico de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (Repositórios Cientìficos)
• Texto Completo: http://repositorio.esenfc.pt/?url=fVcjvx6J
• topic: peripheral intravenous catheters; phlebitis; nurses.

Everyday millions of peripheral intravenous catheters (PICs) are used in hospitals with different purposes, such as medication administration, and nurses are usually those who care for these patients. However, its insertion can lead to complications, such as phlebitis, which facilitates the occurrence of infections and threaten patients' safety. To understand the impact of nurses' training on phlebitis and the quality of nursing care provided to patients with PICs, the incidence of phlebitis was assessed, in two moments, during six weeks (January/March - November/December, 2010) in a medicine ward of a central hospital. Simultaneously, the researcher observed the external characteristics of the insertion site of patients with PICs. Between both moments, a training program was implemented for three months, following the guidelines and literature on this issue. Ethical-legal procedures were respected in this study. In total, 1244 and 1134 PICs were assessed in the 1st phase and 2nd phase, respectively, with incidences of phlebitis of 11.1% and 7.6% before and after nurses' training (X2=8.563, p = 0.004). By observing the site, we concluded that guidelines were strictly followed: the transparent semi-permeable dressing was used to secure PICs, it became the most commonly used method, from 25.4% to 75.22% (X2=589.096, p = 0.000); catheters were safely secured, from 85.05% to 96.56%, (X2= 91.784, p = 0.000) and the lower extremity veins were less used for catheter insertion, from 10.13% to 7.32%, (X2=5.841, p = 0.017). This training program proved to have a clear impact on the reduction of phlebitis and the quality of nursing care, improving patients' safety.