title: An infusion program resource nurse consult service: our experience in a major Canadian teaching hospital.
abstract: Infusion resource teams are comprised of nurses specially trained and experienced in infusion therapy. Our multidisciplinary team provides clinical, educational, and research support to a 1000-bed Canadian tertiary hospital. To characterize the infusion resource nurse service, 789 recorded consults for 250 patients during a 12-month period study were reviewed. Noncritical medicine and surgical wards accounted for a similar number of consults, with the highest volume (31% of total consults) being generated by the general and vascular surgery wards. Vein status was visible and either "fair" or "good" in approximately half of all consults, but 39% of consults were visible and "poor." Most consults (81% of total) resulted in the initiation of peripheral intravenous catheters into an area of nonflexion in an upper extremity and successful peripheral catheter initiations were accomplished in 96% of all cases. Our multidisciplinary infusion program approach to vascular access support appears to be a well-utilized and an effective resource for this hospital.
mesh_terms: D003625:Data Collection / Q000379:methods; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D007263:Infusions, Parenteral / Q000451:nursing*; D009720:Nurse Clinicians / Q000458:organization & administration*; D024802:Nurse's Role; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research / Q000379:methods; D009737:Nursing Records; D010348:Patient Care Team / Q000458:organization & administration; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012017:Referral and Consultation / Q000458:organization & administration*; D016526:Workload