title: Evaluation of a no-dressing intervention for tunneled central venous catheter exit sites.
abstract: This study tested whether central venous catheter (CVC)-related sepsis could be reduced by removing a hypothesized reservoir for pathogens, the CVC exit site dressing. Seventy-eight individuals with cancer, stratified for gender (37 men and 41 women) and transplant status, with newly inserted CVCs were recruited and randomly assigned to receive either a gauze dressing or no dressing, once their catheter insertion site had healed (3 weeks). Because there was no difference in CVC-related septic episodes based on gender or transplant status, the stratification was not maintained for remaining analyses. Although there was no significant difference in CVC-related septic episodes (P =.28) or rehospitalization rates (P =.41) because of CVC-related sepsis between the dressing and no-dressing group, individuals in the dressing group developed CVC-related sepsis sooner (P =.02) than did individuals in the no-dressing group.
authors.affiliation: Cross Cancer Institute, Edmonton, Alberta. Karin.Olson@ualberta.ca
authors.forename: Karin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Olson
authors.forename: Robert P
authors.initials: RP
authors.lastname: Rennie
authors.forename: John
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: Mary
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ryan
authors.forename: Jean
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gilpin
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falsetti
authors.forename: Thea
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heffner
authors.forename: Shirley
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Gaudet
mesh_terms: D001458:Bandages / Q000592:standards*; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D002173:Cancer Care Facilities; D002405:Catheterization, Central Venous / Q000009:adverse effects*; D002408:Catheters, Indwelling / Q000009:adverse effects*; D016009:Chi-Square Distribution; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D017053:Infection Control / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000188:drug therapy; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D010359:Patient Readmission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D016016:Proportional Hazards Models; D012307:Risk Factors; D018805:Sepsis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000209:etiology* / Q000517:prevention & control*; D013997:Time Factors