Nurses insert and care for more than two billion intravascular (IV) devices globally each year. A wound is created for each IV insertion, and the wound cannot heal while the IV remains.
Usually, millions of microorganisms live on our skin and cause no harm.However, insertion of an IV allows these microorganisms to be directly pushed into the blood, or to ‘crawl’ up the device body while the IV is in place. Devastating infections, organ failure and death can occur. Evidence-based nursing is vital to prevent complications associated with IV device wounds.
