Nursing management of peripheral intravenous cannula wound sites

Abstract

The purpose of the study is to find out how nurses manage peripheral intravenous sites on the general surgical wards, as this has been found to be a very common procedure. The study was originally designed to be carried out using structured non participant observation with a checklist developed to record events as they occurred. A pilot study was planned to test the validity of the tool, however, as it appeared that no peripheral intravenous dressing changes were being carried out on the general surgical wards during the time of the pilot study, the tool had to be tested in a speciality area. The pilot study suggested that the tool was valid for use in this area suggesting that the topic is worthy of investigation in future research. However research is urgently required to find out whether intravenous dressing changes are carried out on the general surgical wards and if not, why not? A new method of data collection would need to be developed and a questionnaire is suggested for this purpose. The apparent lack of dressing changes could also reflect serious negligence on behalf of nursing care which merits immediate investigation.