title: Intravenous therapy team and peripheral venous catheter-associated complications. A prospective controlled study.
abstract: A prospective controlled trial was conducted on four similar inpatient medical wards to test the hypothesis that a trained intravenous therapy (IVT) team would substantially reduce the incidence of peripheral intravenous (IV) catheter-related complications. We followed 863 IV catheters. The overall incidence of phlebitis in the ward staff-maintained IV catheters was 32% as compared with 15% for those maintained by the IVT team. The incidence of two more serious complications (cellulitis and suppurative phlebitis) was reduced tenfold from 2.1% to 0.2%. We conclude that an IVT team can substantially reduce the iatrogenic complications related to IV catheters.
mesh_terms: D002404:Catheterization / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D002986:Clinical Trials as Topic; D006801:Humans; D007263:Infusions, Parenteral / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000379:methods; D009820:Ohio; D010348:Patient Care Team; D010689:Phlebitis / Q000209:etiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D011446:Prospective Studies