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- Original Article An epidemiologic study of phlebitis due to intravenous infusion in an university hospital
- S.E Lee, Joung Soon Kim
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Epidemiol Health 1987;9(2):271-277
DOI: https://doi.org/
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Abstract
Since phlebitis following intravenous (IV) infusion which is the most widely used in medical care for patients has remained as a frequent and important hospital infection, it is neccessary to have a fundamental epidemiologic information on the incidence for a successful control program. Two hundred and eighty one patients registered in two general surgical units of an university hospital were studied to find out the incidence rate of the IV induced phlebitis and risk factors involved in it for 2 months from August to September, 1987. Following are summary of the findings; 1) One hundred and ten cases (39.1%) out of 281 patients discharged from the surgical units had experienced phlebitis during the study period. The incidence rate of phlebitis (per 100 IV infused cases) was 14.6. 2) Among various IV devices, the use of IV cannula was found to be the most risky, which caused the highest incidence rate (per 100) 16.9. None of the other devices was comparable to IV cannula in terms of the incidence rate. 3) Proporional increase in incidence rate of phlebitis by the duration of continuous use of the IV infusion was observed. Almost one third of the IV infused cases for more than 73 hours found to have phlebitis. 4) The higher incidence rate as noticed in patients who were in old age group and hospitalized longer. 5) Forty eight percent of the phlebitis cases were classified into severity grade 2 and 3. In conclusion, the incidence rate of phlebitis found in this study was 14.6 per 100 IV infusions and 39.1 per 100 patients discharged and experienced phlebitis is much higher than that of U.S. And the risk factors identified were the devices used for the intravenous infusion, lenth of the hospitalization and age of the patients. This finding strongly suggests that more aggressive preventive intevention need to be excuted, especially for better preparation of the IV devices and selection of the safest method.
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