[The evaluation of unnecessary venous access ports in an emergency service].
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.
Velasco Díaz
L
L
Servicio de Urgencias, Hospital Valle del Nalón, Asturias. lvdiaz@ingterbook.net
Fernández González
B
B
García Ríos
S
S
Hernández del Corro
E
E
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