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Introduction of a “Safety” Intravenous Catheter for Use in an Emergency Department: A Pediatric Hospital's Experience

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  21 June 2016

Leonard R. Friedland  and
Robert Brown
Leonard R. Friedland*
Affiliation:
Department of Pediatrics, Section of Emergency Medicine, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Robert Brown
Affiliation:
Department of Nursing, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Temple University School of Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
*
Emergency Department, St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Erie Ave. and Front St., Philadelphia, PA 19134-1095
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Extract

Little concern was given to the frequency of needlestick injuries in the workplace before the acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) epidemic, despite the risk of acquiring more than 20 different infectious diseases from blood or body fluid-contaminated needlestick injuries. Reports of occupational human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) transmission after accidental needlestick injuries' have not only heightened healthcare worker awareness of this occupational hazard, but also galvanized industry to create safety devices designed to reduce this risk.

We recently introduced a “safety” intravenous catheter for use in our emergency department at St. Christopher's Hospital for Children, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The catheter we chose is, to our knowledge, the only one readily available on the US market. This catheter is the Protectiv™ IV Catheter Safety System, marketed by Critikon, Inc., Tampa, Florida. The catheter's safety mechanism is an external plastic sheath that, as the user advances the catheter off the introducer needle, slides over the contaminated needle and locks it safely inside. The sheath acts as a needle cap, and the user's hands remain behind the introducer needle during all stages of operation. We prospectively evaluated our registered nurses’ acceptance and proficiency with this “safety” catheter.

Type
Readers' Forum
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 13 , Issue 2 , February 1992 , pp. 114 - 115
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 1992

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References

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