• Benjamin Galen, Sarah Baron, Sandra Young, Alleyne Hall, Linda Berger-Spivack, and William Southern.
• Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Hospital Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine and Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, New York, United States bgalen@montefiore.org.
• BMJ Qual Saf. 2020 Mar 1; 29 (3): 245-249.

BackgroundTraining nurses in ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous catheter placement might reduce the use of more invasive venous access devices (peripherally inserted central catheters (PICC) and midline catheters).MethodsWe implemented an abbreviated training in ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous catheter placement for nurses on an inpatient medical unit and provided a portable ultrasound device for 10 months.ResultsNurses on this unit placed 99 ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous catheters with a high level of success. During the implementation period, PICC and midline catheter placement decreased from a mean 4.8 to 2.5 per month, meeting criteria for special cause variation. In the postimplementation period, the average catheter use reverted to 4.3 per month on the intervention unit. A comparison inpatient medical unit without training or access to a portable ultrasound device experienced no significant change in PICC and midline catheter use throughout the study period (mean of 6.0 per month).ConclusionsThese results suggest that an abbreviated training in ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous catheter placement for nurses on an inpatient medical unit is sufficient to reduce PICC and midline catheters.© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2020. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ.

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