Impact of interventions on the incidence of thrombophlebitis in peripheral venous cannulation in a tertiary care teaching hospital

Background: In hospitalized patients the use of intravenous devices like cannula are indispensable. Nearly about 80% of hospitalized patients require peripheral venous cannulation, as a part of therapy. Thrombophlebitis is one of the prevalent complications of peripheral venous cannulation.Method: The present study was aimed to find the incidence of thrombophlebitis after peripheral venous cannulations in the patients admitted in a tertiary care teaching hospital. Impact of regular trainings and interventions on the incidence and grades of thrombophlebitis was also studied. The study was conducted for period of 1 year.Result: The total of 28850 cannulations carried out on 11686 patients was observed. Phlebitis was diagnosed in 1821 peripheral venous cannulations, giving the incidence of 6.3%. As per Visual Infusion Phlebitis (VIP) score, 1527 (83.86%) were grade 1 phlebitis, 274 (15.04%) were with grade 2 phlebitis and 20 (1.10 %) were grade 3 phlebitis. Regular surveillance, training and timely interventions were carried out during this period and the effect of these interventions was noted in the monthly phlebitis rate. Phlebitis rate reduced from 9.89% in January to 3.99% in the month of December. There was also reduction in grade 2 thrombophlebitis (from 21.05% in January to 6.09% in December). In the last 4 months of study period grade 3 phlebitis was not reported.Conclusions: A significant reduction in the incidence of phlebitis associated with peripheral intravenous cannulations may be achieved by regular surveillance, training and timely interventions.