Minimising IV site infection while saving time and money

Abstract

IV site infection is a concern for all health care professionals. The hypotheses for this randomised controlled trial were that, in reducing the incidence of IV site and catheter-related infection, the use of chlorhexidine gluconate (CGH) (0.5 per cent) with 70 per cent isopropyl alcohol swab is more effective than the use of an alcohol swab followed by a 10 per cent povidone-iodine swab or vice versa, namely a 10 per cent povidone-iodine swab followed by an alcohol swab. The research design was a prospective randomised clinical trial of these three groups with a sample size of 300 participants. Analysis was computer generated with Chi-Square tests for comparison of proportions and the Fisher's exact test when the cell blocks were less than 5. The comparison between means was done with analysis of variance. All ethical requirements related to research on human subjects was met within the study setting. The findings indicated that the most efficacious method of skin antisepsis prior to IV site insertion was the use of CHG (0.5 per cent) with 70 per cent isopropyl alcohol swab. In addition, this swab was the most cost effective of the three methods in the trial and had the shortest implementation time frame.