INTRAVENOUS SITE CARE PRACTICES IN CRITICAL CARE - A NATIONAL SURVEY

Objective: To collect and compare written procedures for central fine intravenous site care. Design: Descriptive, stratified, random sample survey. Setting: Adult medical-surgical critical care units among hosp itals throughout the United States. Sample: One hundred fifty-two retu rned surveys. Results: A 24.6% response rate with underrepresentation from smaller institutions and hospitals in the Mid-Atlantic and West S outh Central regions of the country, There were wide variations in pro cedures for intravenous site care related to type of dressing used and frequency of dressing changes. Conclusions: Standardization of cathet er care is needed to ensure consistent quality of intravenous site car e. Lack of standardization may be due to lack of a research data base linking various components of care to outcomes such as infection, pati ent comfort, or catheter retention.