Phlebitis associated with peripheral intravenous catheters in adults admitted to hospital in the Western Brazilian Amazon

Abstract

OBJECTIVE To identify the presence of phlebitis and the factors that influence the development of this complication in adult patients admitted to hospital in the western Brazilian Amazon. METHOD Exploratory study with a sample of 122 peripheral intravenous catheters inserted in 122 patients in a medical unit. Variables related to the patient and intravenous therapy were analyzed. For the analysis, we used chi-square tests of Pearson and Fisher exact test, with 5% significance level. RESULTS Complication was the main reason for catheter removal (67.2%), phlebitis was the most frequent complication (31.1%). The mean duration of intravenous therapy use was 8.81 days in continuous and intermittent infusion (61.5%), in 20G catheter (39.3%), inserted in the dorsal hand vein arc (36.9 %), with mean time of usage of 68.4 hours. The type of infusion (p=0.044) and the presence of chronic disease (p=0.005) and infection (p=0.007) affected the development of phlebitis. CONCLUSION There was a high frequency of phlebitis in the sample, being influenced by concomitant use of continuous and intermittent infusion of drugs and solutions, and more frequent in patients with chronic diseases and infection.