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Learning Objective 1: Describe the safety and effectiveness of the Medical Line (ML) Wrap in the prevention of medical line entanglement among pediatric patients.
Learning Objective 2: Discuss the importance of implementing the Medical Line Wrap into clinical practice to help protect children from medical line entanglement adverse events during hospitalization.
Methods: A randomized, longitudinal, controlled design was used to measure the frequency and severity of medical line entanglements in a usual care group (n = 124) compared to the intervention group (n = 124) with the ML Wrap(s) in place. Hospitalized children ages 2 months to 6 years in a large pediatric hospital were observed hourly using an online data management system. Variables such as demographics, patient activity, type of medical lines, evidence of entanglements, and Level of Harm measured by the ML Entanglement Severity Scale were collected. Chi-square analyses were used to compare groups.
Results: Compared to the control group, patients who had ML Wrap(s) on their medical lines had a significantly fewer entanglements (15.1% vs 39.9%, p<.0001) and significantly lower entanglement severity scores for intravenous lines (p<.0001), pulse oximetry (p<.0001), and oxygen (p=.017).
Conclusion: The ML Wrap was effective in in preventing lines from getting tangled or wrapped around patients’ bodies. Use of the ML Wrap in nursing practice will promote pediatric patient safety and avoid potential harm from medical lines.