Many experienced nurses report a lack of confidence in their intravenous (IV) catheter skills despite training with a phlebotomist and designated orientation time with the IV team. This study assessed the success of an IV catheter insertion continuing education class aimed at improving experienced nurses' skills levels, confidence, and knowledge regarding IV catheter insertion, maintenance, and infection prevention. Through a partnership between a hospital and a college of nursing continuing education program, a 1-day course was provided for 33 experienced nurses. The educators sought to determine whether a continuing education course improved the knowledge and skills of experienced nurses regarding the insertion of peripheral IV catheters and whether the nurses retained the knowledge and skills learned in a formal IV course over time. The findings showed that the continuing education IV course improved the knowledge and skills of experienced nurses. Improvement in knowledge was shown immediately after the course and 8 to 12 weeks later. Skills improvement with regard to infection prevention and policy adherence was evident. Because confidence data were collected with two different scales before and after the course, they were unusable for statistical testing. Further study is needed to determine whether nurses' confidence levels would improve after the implementation of a formal IV course. Replication studies are also needed to validate the results with a larger sample size.
The data provide some evidence to support the elimination of heparin flushing in home care patients with PICCs, although data in the saline-only group that related to additional registered nurse visits to assess PICC patency and the use of alteplase (Cathflo Activase) were trending toward significance because this group experienced a higher incidence of these complications than both the heparin groups. These findings should not be translated to home care patients with cancer or pregnancy diagnoses because these populations were excluded from this study. More studies of this topic area should be initiated. Please see video abstract, Supplemental Digital Content 1, for more information (http://links.lww.com/JIN/A3).
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