Résumé
Background: Children admitted to hospital and ICUs for various reasons like sepsis, respiratory distress, dehydration, shock etc. require an intravenous line for medications and IV fluids. Properly securing an intravenous line is very important. It is equally important to maintain the patency of the intravenous line for longer periods of time. But there is no adequate data regarding factors affecting the duration of patency of an IV line. This study was done to compare effect of limb splinting versus non-splinting with the functional duration of peripheral IV cannula.Methods: This study was done over 3 months between October - December 2018 in pediatric patients (age 6 months to 5 years) admitted to Kempegowda Hospital. Patients were randomised into splint group and non-splint group. In the splint group a firm splint was applied to the joint that was cannulated. No such intervention was done in the non-splint group. Time from IV line placement to removal was measured.Results: Total 438 patients were taken into study. After exclusion 200 patients were given a splint and 200 were not splinted. The median survival time was more in splint group when compared to non-splint group.Conclusions: This study shows that splinting helps to maintain patency of IV line for a more longer duration than non splinting of the joint.