Construction and Application of a Decision-Making Flowchart for Difficult Peripheral Intravenous Puncture in Children

Abstract

Objectives: to construct and verify the clinical applicability of a flowchart for assessing children and adolescents who will undergo peripheral intravenous catheterization, according to risk factors for procedure failure. Method: this is a methodological and observational study, which followed the AGREEII instrument guidelines and steps for the construction of a decision-making flowchart for difficult peripheral intravenous puncture. Afterwards, clinical applicability with children and adolescents was verified after approval of ethical merit, with the main outcome being the success rate in the first puncture attempt. It was verified, through statistical analysis, the association of the outcome with the risk factors raised. Results: in the first stage of the study, a literature review was carried out to survey the risk factors for difficult puncture, and prematurity, less than three years, more pigmented skin, obesity, chronic diseases, dehydration, vein difficult to see and/or not palpable, history of multiple punctures and complications of intravenous therapy were found. After applying the flowchart, it was found that 96.3% of the children and adolescents assessed were at risk of being punctured more than once and that 43.9% underwent more than one procedure for success. Those who were unsuccessful on the first attempt were younger than three years old, had chronic disease, vein difficult to see, not palpable vein and a history of multiple punctures. Conclusion: flowchart construction was based on the risk factors for difficult puncture identified in the literature. Clinical applicability showed that it can be a useful tool to identify children and adolescents at risk for puncture failure.