Hospitals are challenged to meet the IV therapy needs of a growing number of patients with difficult vascular access. Unnecessary and preventable peripheral intravenous catheter (PIVC) failure leads to device replacement, delays in essential treatments, repetitive and painful reinsertion procedures, and increased health care costs. To improve outcomes for patients with difficult IV access, should we challenge current norms by considering alternate devices, longer peripheral IV devices, and the standard use of highly skilled inserters? This presentation will provide an overview of recent research involving midline catheters (MCs), long PIVCs, and vascular access teams. It will include results from three randomised controlled trials (MCs versus PIVCs; MCs versus PICCs; and long versus short PIVCs) and literature summaries of vascular access teams and device failure associated with different types of peripheral IV devices.

Learning Objectives: At the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to: 

1. Describe the potential benefits of long peripheral IV devices to patient’s vascular access outcomes.
2. Explain the complications associated with long PIVCs and MCs.
3. Discuss the potential benefits of vascular access teams in hospitals and the influence they have on the uptake of long PIVCs and MCs.
4. Discuss current literature on the use of MCs, long PIVCs, and specialized vascular access teams, identifying practice gaps and education priorities for further research. 

Contact Hours: 1
CRNI® RUs: 2