Integrated versus non-integrated peripheral intravenous catheters: a cross-sectional survey of nurse experiences

BACKGROUND

Integrated peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs) demonstrate clinical efficacy, however, device complexity and design differences may be a potential barrier to implementation.

AIMS

To assess nurse acceptability of integrated PIVC systems.

METHODS

A cross-sectional survey was nested within a multicentre randomised controlled trial. One hundred nurses caring for patients with integrated and non-integrated PIVCs completed a 17-item survey about key differences between devices (eg function and appearance, perceived patient comfort and skin injuries).

FINDINGS

Most nurses reported the integrated PIVC wings prevented device movement (80%), achieved patient comfort in areas of flexion (78%), and no patients developed skin injuries (100%). Nurses rated the ease of accessing and overall confidence using the integrated PIVC as significantly higher than the non-integrated design (P<0.001).

CONCLUSION

The integrated PIVC received positive feedback from nurses and had few barriers to implementation.

Biomechanical analysis of practitioner's gesture for peripheral venous catheter insertion

Peripheral venous catheter insertion (PVCI) is one of the most common procedures performed by healthcare professionals but remains technically difficult. To develop new medical simulators with better representativeness of the human forearm, an experimental study was performed to collect data related to the puncturing of human skin and a vein in the antebrachial area. A total of 31 volunteers participated in this study. Force sensors and digital image correlation were used to measure the force during the palpation and puncturing of the vein and to retrieve the kinematics of the practitioner's gesture. The in vivo skin rupture load, vein rupture load, and friction loads for skin only and for both the skin and vein were (mean ± standard deviation) 0.85 ± 0.34 N, 1.25 ± 0.37 N, -0.49 ± 0.19 N, and -0.51 ± 0.16 N, respectively. The results of this study can be used to develop realistic skin and vein substitutes and mechanically assess them by reproducing the practitioner's gesture in a controlled fashion.