Occurrence and predisposing factors of phlebitis in patients with Iv therapy

ABSTRACT

Catheterization is the most common invasive and stressful treatment for inpatients. In addition to pain, its complications are threatening patients' life. One of these complications is phlebitis. Phlebitis is a serious complication that causes an unexpected increase in hospitalization period and treatment costs. It may cause sepsis and emboli. The accepted rate for phlebitis is%5 or less, while some studies report that rate between 25-70 percent. The main objective of this study is determining phlebitis occurrence and its predisposing factors in surgical wards of Ardabil hospitals. This study is a descriptive cross-sectional one. In this study, 400 cases of catheters in patients hospitalized in surgical wards of hospitals were randomly selected and studied. In this study, the peripheral catheter of patients over 12 years was studied and parameters such as demographic data, diagnosis, catheter type, drugs, solutions, catheterization period, vein, dressing type and rate of phlebitis were studied and then the data were analyzed with SPSS. Results showed that most of patients [%31/9] had catheter for 4 days.Most of the catheters [%37] were inserted in cephalic veins. The occurrence of phlebitis rate was 19.6 percent in 72hr while post infusion phlebitis rate was 16.5 percent. In most cases [%85] catheters were covered with no sterile dressing. Regarding high rate of phlebitis in this study, it seems necessary to conduct education on more appropriate application of catheters in patients in order to diminish phlebitis