HOW OFTEN THE INTRAVENOUS ADMINISTRATION SET
SHOULD BE CHANGED IN NEWBORN BABY?
Wong S-F
Kwong Wah Hospital, Kowloon, Hong Kong
Objective: In SCBU, the definite
guideline for intravenous administration set change intervals is not
available. Nurses usually change intravenous administration set at 24 hours
or 48 hours interval. Concerning the safety of the patients and the
prevention of catheter-related infection, a study on how often the
intravenous administration set should be changed had been conducted. The
objective of the study was to develop a nursing protocol on the change of
administration set in SCBU to prevent catheter-related blood stream
infection and phlebitis of the SCBU babies.
Method: The babies
who had been admitted to SCBU and required to have intravenous infusion
were recruited for the study. They were randomly selected as Group A and
Group B babies. The babies of Group A were the control group with
administration set changed at 24 hours interval. The Group B babies were
the experiment group with administration set changed at 72 hours interval.
The demographic data, diagnosis, clinical and laboratory findings of the
babies were recorded in the data collection sheets. Once the data had been
collected, the data were analyzed and made comparison.
Result: The study was conducted
in SCBU from June to November 2000.
There were 122 babies recruited in the study and randomly selected
as Group A and Group B. Among those babies, 41 babies of Group A and 24
babies of Group B met the criteria of the study. According to the clinical
data and laboratory findings of these babies, none of them had the clinical
signs and symptoms of catheter-related blood stream infection and
phlebitis. Therefore, there was no difference of catheter-related blood
stream infection rate and phlebitis rate between changing administration
set at 24 hours interval and 72 hours interval.
Conclusion: Change administration
set at 72 hours interval will not increase the catheter-related blood
stream infection rate and phlebitis rate of the SCBU babies who require to
have intravenous infusion. In order to reduce the cost, save time and
protect the environment, the administration set is recommended to change at
72 hours instead of 24 hours or 48 hours interval.