[Nursing research on the use of venous catheters for hospitalized patients]

This report shows that intravenous catheterisation has been required for 59.4% of the patients in this sample. The main reason identified for catheterisation was the difficulty in accessing peripheral veins. The wound dressing was applied for 100% of the patients and the procedure itself was carried out each 48 hours in 89.8% of them. The intravenous catheter stood for 10 days in 52% of the cases and it was removed in 34.8% for intravenous drugs interruption and the other reasons were related as to technical problems. The most present microorganism was Staphylococcus aureus in 20.3% of the catheter cultures.