Introduction
Intravenous therapy is widely used in hospital contexts, mainly through the placement of peripheral venous catheters. Most catheters are removed due to the occurrence of complications, the end of the treatment or lack of use.(1) The following local complications are associated with the use of peripheral intravenous catheter: hematoma, thrombosis, phlebitis, thrombophlebitis, infiltration, extravasation, local infection and venous spasm.(2) More than 70% of inpatients need a peripheral venous catheter. In the United States (USA), about 200 million catheters are used each year.(3) In Spain, about 50% of the inpatients receive an intravenous catheter, 95% of which are peripheral.(4) Other studies appoint usage rates of peripheral venous catheters in 86.4%(5) and 80.6%(6) of the patients.
Thus, the nurses and nursing team’s technical-scientific knowledge about intravenous therapy guarantee the treatment efficacy and the quality of care delivery, making it fundamental to know the best technologically and evidence-based care practices. That justifies the importance of this research for daily nursing care practice, as it produces knowledge and scientific evidence to support the nursing professionals’ decision making on the most appropriate peripheral venous catheter for patients submitted to intravenous therapy. Hence, the objective in this research was to analyze the complications deriving from the use of peripheral venous catheters in adults.