Josephine Lovegrove1, Sally Havers2, Jessica Schults3, Gillian Ray-Barruel4, Alice Bhasale5, Sarah Smith6, Jemima Fritts7, Samantha Keogh8, Amanda Ullman9, Claire Rickard10
1NHMRC CRE in Wiser Wound Care, Griffith University; Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health, UQCCR; School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, The University of Queensland; Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching & Research; Southport QLD 4222; j.lovegrove@griffith.edu.au, 2Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health, UQCCR; School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, The University of Queensland; Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching & Research; Herston QLD 4006; sally.havers@health.qld.gov.au, 3Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health, UQCCR; School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, The University of Queensland; Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching & Research; Herston QLD 4006; j.schults@uq.edu.au, 4Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health, UQCCR; School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, The University of Queensland; Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching & Research; Herston QLD 4006; g.raybarruel@uq.edu.au,5Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Healthcare, Sydney NSW 2001; alice.bhasale@safetyandquality.gov.au, 6Health consumer, 7Health consumer, 8Queensland University of Technology; Royal Brisbane & Women’s Hospital, Metro North Health; Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching & Research; Herston QLD 4006; s2.keogh@qut.edu.au, 9Centre for Children’s Health Research, Children’s Health Queensland Hospital and Health Service & Faculty of Medicine, The University of Queensland; School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, The University of Queensland; Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching & Research; South Brisbane QLD 4101; a.ullman@uq.edu.au, 10Herston Infectious Diseases Institute, Metro North Health, UQCCR; School of Nursing, Midwifery & Social Work, The University of Queensland; Alliance for Vascular Access Teaching & Research; Herston QLD 4006; c.rickard@uq.edu.au
Abstract:
The national peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) Clinical Care Standard provides recommendations to guide appropriate PIVC management from insertion to removal, but the extent of translation into hospitals is unclear. In response, a point prevalence study was conducted (July-August 2024) in acute wards across 21 Queensland public hospitals. Local assessors used standardised tools to capture data to assess policy and practice against the Standard’s monitoring indicators.
Preliminary analysis revealed less than half of hospitals reported local policies fully defining required PIVC management documentation (43%), supporting first insertion-attempt success (29%), ensuring healthcare professionals competency in PIVC management (19%) and providing systematic device selection decision support (19%).
Overall, 788 patients with ≥1 PIVC were included. Most had PIVCs which had been used for a therapeutic purpose since insertion (91%) and in the last 24-hours (81%), could identify the reason for their PIVCs (86%) and had clean, dry, secure PIVC dressings (81%). Fewer had PIVCs inserted on the first attempt (70%), with a clearly documented insertion indication (80%) and ongoing need assessment (61%). Notably, 53% had PIVCs in an area-of-flexion and only 42% had PIVCs inspected ≤8-hourly.
This presentation will discuss these results, and the need for targeted improvement strategies, care monitoring and benchmarking.