Novice research: central venous access device care infections

This article describes a literature review of published evidence on infection prevention and control in central venous access device (CVAD) care conducted by a novice researcher (lead author) under the supervision of her lecturer (second author). It includes details of the search as well as of the analysis which led to the selection and critical appraisal of a selected article identified and, importantly, discussion of the limitations and lessons learned by the novice researcher with her experimental approach. Infection control is paramount within nursing practice as a result of the number of healthcare-associated infections, which are preventable if evidence-based practice is followed and when trust protocols are informed by evidence. The question posed by the author prior to undertaking the literature search related to whether the use of sterile gloves for CVADs reduces infections in the oncology patient population compared with the use of non-sterile gloves. The question was formulated using the PICO (Population, Intervention, Comparison, Outcome) process and relevant literature was located using CINAHL and MEDLINE databases. The results of the review demonstrated no significant difference in infection rates using sterile or non-sterile gloves when handling CVADs but further research in this area is needed to validate the findings.