Developing a venous assessment tool in IV chemotherapy administration

It is recognized that the variety of intravenous (IV) chemotherapy regimens administered within the hospital setting is expanding rapidly, and this places increasing demands on nurses in relation to patient preparation and assessment. IV chemotherapy treatment is given over an extended period and requires multiple and often technically difficult peripheral cannulation attempts. To avoid the physical discomfort and potential psychological morbidity associated with repeated cannulation attempts, chemotherapy specialist nurses, in consultation with senior pharmacists, oncologists and other chemotherapy practitioners in a cancer centre, designed a venous assessment tool (VAT) that uses a scoring system to enable identification of patients who would benefit from insertion of a central vascular access device at the outset of treatment. This article describes the rationale for development of the VAT, the potential benefits of its use for both nurses and patients, and the plans for further refinement of the tool.