title: Pediatric peripheral intravenous access: does nursing experience and competence really make a difference?
abstract: Placement of peripheral pediatric intravenous (IV) catheters in infants and children is difficult, even in skilled hands. This large, 2-institution prospective study used real-time independent observations to describe the effect of nurse experience and competence on the length of time and the number of attempts to establish a successful IV placement in the hospitalized child. Data from a convenience sample of 592 evaluable patients and 1135 venipunctures showed that successful IV placements required an average of 2 venipunctures over 28 minutes. Although nurse experience and self-rated competence were correlated with attaining a successful IV placement, time of day, predicted difficulty of the venipuncture, and cooperativeness of the child appeared to be better predictors of success.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Brody School of Medicine at East Carolina University, 3 E 139 Brody, Greenville, NC 27834, USA. larsenp@ecu.edu
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Larsen
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Eldridge
authors.forename: Jason
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Brinkley
authors.forename: Dale
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Newton
authors.forename: David
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Goff
authors.forename: Timothy
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Hartzog
authors.forename: Nancy Darden
authors.initials: ND
authors.lastname: Saad
authors.forename: Ron
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Perkin
mesh_terms: D002406:Catheterization, Peripheral / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000451:nursing; D002669:Child Welfare; D002675:Child, Preschool; D002983:Clinical Competence / Q000592:standards*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000379:methods* / Q000451:nursing; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D009657:North Carolina; D018962:Phlebotomy; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012372:ROC Curve; D013223:Statistics as Topic; D013997:Time Factors