Helping nurses help PIVCs: decision aids for daily assessment and maintenance

Improving the safety and quality of health care relies on implementing evidence-based findings into every-day clinical practice. Numerous clinical decision aids have been developed to guide nursing care of the patient with a peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC), including standards, guidelines, decision frameworks, bundles, policies, procedures, algorithms, pathways, checklists and scoring tools. While all are created with the intention of facilitating the delivery of safe, effective nursing care and improving patient outcomes, there are distinct differences in methodology and design between them, and many are based on expert opinion and historical practice rather than high-quality evidence. This paper reviews the types of decision aids for daily PIVC assessment and management, explores the evidence base underpinning them, and considers the implications for their use in clinical practice. A consistent, systematic and evidence-based approach to PIVC care will provide the optimal environment for achieving quality patient outcomes.