Peripheral intravenous catheters: improving patient safety with the use of a care bundle

Abstract

Objective: To introduce a peripheral intravenous catheter (PVC) care bundle as a tool to improve the management of PVCs and patient safety, and to audit staff compliance over a 9 week period. The long-term goal was to use data from the pilot study to implement the PVC bundle in other veterinary practices. Methods: Over a period of 9 weeks, a PVC care bundle consisting of 14 quality indicators was introduced into Abbey House Veterinary Hospital, Leeds. This was to assess 49 patients who had an intravenous catheter in situ for more than 24 hours. Staff were asked to record on the PVC care bundle sheet when a quality indicator had been completed. Percentage compliance was then calculated for the completion of the entire bundle and the individual quality indicators. Results: Over the 9 week period there was an overall decline in compliance for the entire bundle. It declined by 3% from an initial compliance of 94. Regression analysis was performed to calculate whether this value was significant using a p value of ≤0.05. There were improvements in some of the individual quality indicators, for example date and time of insertion and checking the insertion site and limb. Conclusion: It was demonstrated that there was a low mean percentage compliance with completion of the care bundle in the hospital environment studied. However with more research and further implementation, changes could be made to the bundle to increase the rate of compliance, and improve patient safety.