66 Cycle 1: Time for Peripherally Inserted Central Catheter (PICC) Insertion for Patients with Complex Infections in The Trauma and Orthopaedic Department at The Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh (RIE)

Abstract

Abstract Introduction Bone, joint and soft tissue infections often require long term antibiotic therapy alongside operative management. Intravenous (IV) access is essential for antibiotic administration and monitoring. ‘Long-lines’ such as PICC provide reliable long-term IV access. Aim: analyse time to insertion of ‘Long-lines’ and effects on patient outcomes. Method Standard audit protocol. Data tool was developed, trialled, and tested. Data was collected retrospectively from departmental database and TRAK (Online patient record system) for patients admitted with suspected bone, joint or soft tissues infection from 01/11/19- 29/2/20. Results 91 patients admitted with presumed infection. PICC requested in 30 patients. Mean time to PICC request from admission was 8.7 days (1-33). 23 patients received PICC. Mean time to PICC following request was 6.7 days (1-15). Mean time to PICC from admission was 15.9 days (4-39). 10 of 30(33.3%) patients had documented missed antibiotics due to lack of IV access. Conclusions Large variation in time for patients receiving PICC from admission and from time of request. A significant proportion of patients are missing IV antibiotics due to poor IV access. Improvement in time to ‘longlines’ would reduce incidence of venepuncture in patients requiring IV access in addition to reducing missed IV antibiotics due to lack of access.