title: Intravascular device use, management, documentation and complications: a point prevalence survey.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To examine the use, management, documentation and complications for intravascular devices in cardiac, medical and surgical inpatients.
  
  
  METHODS
  A point prevalence survey was undertaken in a large tertiary hospital in Queensland. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse data.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 327 patients assessed, 192 (58.7%) had one or more devices in situ. Of the 220 devices, 190 (86.4%) were peripheral venous catheters, 25 (11.4%) were peripherally inserted central catheters and five (2.3%) were central venous catheters. Sixty-two of 220 devices (28.2%) were in situ without a clear purpose, whereas 54 (24.7%) had one or more complications, such as redness, pain, tracking, oedema or oozing. There was no documentation on the daily patient care record to indicate that a site assessment had occurred within the past 8h for 25% of the devices in situ.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The present study identified several problems and highlighted areas for improvement in the management and documentation for intravascular devices. Ongoing education, promoting good clinical practice and reauditing, can be applied to improve the management of devices.
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Nursing, 2nd Floor, Centre for Clinical Nursing, Building 34, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Butterfield Street, Herston, Qld 4029, Australia. Email: ; ;
authors.forename: Karen A
authors.initials: KA
authors.lastname: New
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Nursing, 2nd Floor, Centre for Clinical Nursing, Building 34, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Butterfield Street, Herston, Qld 4029, Australia. Email: ; ;
authors.forename: Joan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Webster
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Nursing, 2nd Floor, Centre for Clinical Nursing, Building 34, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Butterfield Street, Herston, Qld 4029, Australia. Email: ; ;
authors.forename: Nicole M
authors.initials: NM
authors.lastname: Marsh
authors.affiliation: Centre for Clinical Nursing, 2nd Floor, Centre for Clinical Nursing, Building 34, Royal Brisbane and Women's Hospital, Butterfield Street, Herston, Qld 4029, Australia. Email: ; ;
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Hewer
mesh_terms: D002406:Catheterization, Peripheral / Q000009:adverse effects* / Q000295:instrumentation; D004282:Documentation; D019544:Equipment Failure Analysis; D019538:Health Care Surveys / Q000379:methods; D006801:Humans; D011183:Postoperative Complications / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy; D011793:Queensland / Q000453:epidemiology; D062606:Tertiary Care Centers; D013903:Thoracic Surgery / Q000295:instrumentation*