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Monday, November 2, 2009: 2:20 PM
Learning Objective 1: describe the prevalence of medical line entanglement among pedatric patients at one large, mid-Western pedatric hospital.
Learning Objective 2: describe possible interventions to reduce or eliminate medical line entangelment in pediatric patients.
Unintentional injuries are the leading cause of death in children. Children admitted to the hospital are at risk for unintentional injuries from entanglement and possible strangulation from intravenous (IV) lines and lines from other medical equipment. Registered nurses and other health care professionals have anecdotally reported ‘near misses’ of patient injury due to entanglement from indwelling lines such as IVs or feeding tubes and medical equipment such as oxygen tubing or monitor wires. Further, the actual number of injuries or deaths related to line entanglement is not known. The purpose of this presentation is to investigate the prevalence of medical line use and line entanglement in children at one large, Midwestern pediatric hospital. Over a three-month period, data were collected on in-patient pediatric patients (n = 500) regarding the presence of medical lines, incidence of line kinking, occlusion, and entanglement with children’s body parts and/or with other lines. Approximately, 75% of children (ages 3 to 36 months) admitted have at least one medical line and are at risk for pulling out lines, entanglement, and strangulation. Preliminary data supports the need for the development of solutions to improve patient safety regarding the use of medical lines. The strengths and limitations of potential nursing interventions to prevent line entanglement will be discussed. The intended target audience includes registered nurses, nursing students, and health professionals who provide direct patient care to hospitalized children.