In 2019, an article in a pharmaceutical journal reported that patients were being put at risk by most adult patients not having their intravenous (IV)-giving sets flushed. This had been brought to light through a patient safety forum and was quite the scandal.
As chair of the National Infusion and Vascular Access Society (NIVAS), and a nurse practitioner for IV therapy at the time, I was a little confused about this. Although my formal IV therapy training had been nearly 20 years ago, I had no recollection of being taught to flush the IV-giving set after the infusion bag was empty. I asked around and confirmed that, apart from oncology and paediatrics, this was certainly not common practice in adult nursing in the UK.
Safety issues are not always clear cut as they are multi-faceted. As a profession we strive to ensure our patients are safe.
Throughout my nursing career I have seen changes in practice from the perspectives of a clinician and of a manager. These changes illustrate a desire by the profession to embrace change and strive for best practice based on available evidence.
A key component that must emerge from a safety incident is a recognition that a risk exists. We need to ask ‘why?’ and ‘what can be done?’ to address it. We also need to consider other aspects like human factors that have contributed to the safety issue
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