Clinical acceptability and ease of use of a safety IV catheter system

Abstract

Objective:

Occupational risk of transmission of bloodborne pathogens represents a major challenge in prevention. Even though preventive recommendations to avoid needlestick injuries among healthcare workers include the use of needle protective devices, its use in developing countries is not a standard practice. This study aimed to measure, on experienced nurses, perception of performance characteristics and activation of the safety feature of a safety closed IV catheter system (BD Pegasus), called catheter P, versus a non-safety device (BD Intima II) called catheter I in healthy volunteers.

*BD Pegasus is a registered trade name of Beckton Dickinson Medical, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA.

†BD Intima II is a registered trade name of Beckton Dickinson Medical, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA.

Method:

Fifty-two nurses and 205 healthy volunteers participated in a prospective, randomized, controlled study in a simulated setting. Each nurse performed two insertions of each catheter (one in each forearm) in four study volunteers; the order of insertions was randomly assigned. Statistical analyses were performed to compare the performance of the two catheters regarding Overall Perception of Clinical Acceptability and Ease of Use.

Results:

Overall acceptance of the device performance characteristics was 90% or more. In all cases, catheter P performed at least as well as catheter I. There were no differences in the insertion success rate between the two devices (93.7% vs. 96.2%). Activation of the safety feature of catheter P occurred 99.4%. Subjects’ perception of pain was similar for both devices. Overall perception of clinical acceptability and ease of use were judged better for catheter P than for catheter I (p = 0.006, and p < 0.001 respectively). All clinicians strongly agreed that catheter P would protect them from needle stick injuries.

Conclusions:

Despite the study limitations, mainly its artificial setting and its inability to blind, the results indicate that the Safety Closed IV Catheter System with its safety feature represents a good alternative for IV catheter insertions that can help reduce the incidence of stick injuries in health care workers.

Keywords::

• Intravenous catheters
• Needle stick injuries
• Nurses
• Safety devices

Transparency

Declaration of funding

This study was supported by research funding from Becton Dickinson and Company, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA.

Declaration of financial/other relationships

A.R.-S., A.V.-V.-M, and J.R.-S have disclosed that they have no significant relationships with or financial interests in any commercial companies related to this study or article. The authors were actively involved in the collection, analysis, interpretation of the data and preparation of this manuscript.

CMRO peer reviewers may have received honoraria for their review work. The peer reviewers on this manuscript have disclosed that they have no relevant financial relationships.

Acknowledgments

The authors thank nurses, volunteers that participated in the study and employees/Pegasus team members, Karen Byron, Joanne Ferranti, and Dr. Angela Karpf, that assisted with study design, monitoring and data entry, and review of this manuscript.

Notes

*BD Pegasus is a registered trade name of Beckton Dickinson Medical, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA.

†BD Intima II is a registered trade name of Beckton Dickinson Medical, Franklin Lakes, NJ, USA.