Superficial peripheral vein type classification of adolescents, adults and elderly according to the Delphi technique

Construction and validation of a virtual learning object for the teaching of peripheral venous vascular semiology

Abstract Objective: To construct and evaluate the SEMIOVAPE - a Virtual Learning Object for teaching of peripheral venous vascular semiology - based on ergonomic, pedagogical and usability criteria. Method: Methodological study, whose participants were experts in Nursing, Computer Science and Nurse undergraduate student. For the construction and validation of the Object, six steps were followed: educational design; computational modeling; environment implementation; ergonomic, pedagogical, and usability evaluation. Results: The Object was built having the characteristic of valuing student's autonomy and approached contents of anatomy and physiology, clinical reasoning and clinical examination. Concerning the ergonomic and pedagogical evaluations, the Object obtained high acceptance rates (66.70% and 70.12%, respectively), as for usability, all participants considered it very useful and were certainly satisfied (95%). Conclusions and implications: The Object is suitable to be used as an alternative source of teaching peripheral venous semiology.

Venous International Assessment, VIA Scale, Validated Classification Procedure for the Peripheral Venous System

Purpose

VIA scale is a dynamic performance status tool of the peripheral venous system that is divided into five different grades, composed of three parameters: number of observable puncture points; optimal catheter size for cannulation and ease of performing venipuncture and risk of extravasation.

Methods

Prospective single-center, observational, open, non-randomized study divided into two phases. In the first longitudinal phase, we studied the clinical characteristics and the changes in their peripheral venous systems during intravenous chemotherapy for 16 patients (n=16) for an average period of 24 months. In the second transverse phase, we measured the vein's diameter at the selected puncture points with a high-resolution ultrasound and paired this figure with VIA scale. We selected a group of oncology patients (n=52) and a control group (n=56).

Results

In the first phase, the level of agreement between the three reviewers was excellent. The second step was to assess the relationship between the measurements obtained with ultrasound and the VIA scale. The vein diameter measurements show a decrease directly related to the assessment of observers in the VIA scale.

Conclusions

The VIA scale is a simple, easy and practical method for classification of the peripheral venous system in terms of vascular access. The practical application of our VIA scale significantly increases the quality of life of patients by increasing the chances of successful venipuncture and cannulation and thus reducing the risk of extravasation and material costs, allowing both an economical and a safe venous assessment tool.