Outcomes of a continuing education course on intravenous catheter insertion for experienced registered nurses

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.