Emergency medicine Australasia : EMA
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Emerg Med Australas
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Emerg Med Australas · Dec 2016
Predicting and preventing peripheral intravenous cannula insertion failure in the emergency department: Clinician 'gestalt' wins again.
Failed attempts at peripheral i.v. cannula (PIVC) insertion in the ED are common. The psychological, physical and economic impact of these failures is significant. We sought to explore whether clinicians of differing experience levels can predict their own likelihood (clinician 'gestalt') of first-time cannula insertion success on any given patient. ⋯ When applied to our sample population, an algorithm relying on clinician gestalt to identify patients at high risk of PIVC failure had the greatest potential impact. These patients would be referred to expert PIVC inserters prior to, rather than after, failed attempts.