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Risks associated with 72- and 96-hour peripheral intravenous catheter dwell times
1Legacy Health System, Portland, Oregon, USA.
Summary
Restarting peripheral intravenous catheters at 72 hours does not reduce complication risks compared to continuing therapy. A restarted catheter shows a higher risk of complication in its initial 24 hours.
Area of Science:
- Medical Interventions
- Patient Safety
- Infectious Disease Prevention
Background:
- Peripheral intravenous (IV) catheter complications increase after 48-72 hours.
- Routine catheter restarts at 3 days are common practice to mitigate risks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To compare complication risks of peripheral IV catheter restarts at 72 hours versus continuing therapy to 96 hours.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective chart review of 722 patients with peripheral IV catheters.
- Analysis of IV therapy start/termination dates and reasons for termination using risk models.
Main Results:
- Complications led to termination in 188 of 722 cases.
- The probability of complication increased from 0.074 (first 24 hours) to 0.176 (24-48 hours).
- The 48-72 hour and 72-96 hour periods had a complication probability of 0.130; restarted catheters had higher initial complication risks.
Conclusions:
- Restarting peripheral IV catheters at 72 hours does not decrease complication risk in the subsequent 24 hours.
- Further research is needed to support policies for automatic 72-hour peripheral IV catheter restarts.