title: [The evaluation of unnecessary venous access ports in an emergency service].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  To determine the incidence of unnecessary cannulations of peripheral veins in an emergency department (ED).
  
  
  METHODS
  We retrospectively analyzed a sample of 1,113 patients from a total of 24,637 who were attended at ED. We reviewed the cannulations of peripheral veins and if they was used or not.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In 202 (18.5%) cases, venous access was obtained. In 84 (41.6%) the venous access was not used.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The unnecessary use of venous cannulations is a common practice and generates a substantial added cost of poor quality.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Valle del Nalón, Asturias. lvdiaz@ingterbook.net
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Velasco Díaz
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Fernández González
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: García Ríos
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Hernández del Corro
mesh_terms: D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D003365:Costs and Cost Analysis; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000191:economics / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D011897:Random Allocation; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013030:Spain