A new study concludes that the POWERWAND® peripheral IV (PIV) catheter is an effective alternative to central lines and standard PIV's, achieving unprecedented levels of success in patients requiring longer-term IV therapy.
“Subjects in our study population experienced significantly less thrombosis, catheter occlusion, phlebitis and infiltration than with other reports of complications from studies on PIV outcomes”
The peer-reviewed study by researchers at the Center for Nursing Research, Orlando Health, in Orlando, Fla., appears in the Spring 2012 issue of the Journal of the Association for Vascular Access (JAVA).
Researchers said the FDA-cleared POWERWAND was successfully placed on first attempt 95% of the time, in a challenging population of patients with a history of difficult IV access. There was also a highly favorable rate of IV therapy completion -- 88.5% of cases.
The study documented an historically low overall complication rate. "Subjects in our study population experienced significantly less thrombosis, catheter occlusion, phlebitis and infiltration than with other reports of complications from studies on PIV outcomes," the authors said.
The research team for the study in JAVA was headed by chief author William G. Warrington Jr., PhD, RN, CCRP, nurse scientist at the Center for Nursing Research, Orlando Health, in Orlando, Fla.
With patient satisfaction emerging as an important factor in hospital reimbursement, the study is notable for documenting very high levels of patient satisfaction with the POWERWAND.
This vascular access device was developed to be the PIV catheter that can deliver continuous IV therapy for most patients' entire length of stay, while also offering the possibility of a one-needlestick hospitalization.
"Patients should not be treated as pincushions, and this study proves they need not be. Clinicians no longer have to accept as inevitable the repetitive needlesticks and countless complications that patients suffer from other vascular access devices," said Steve Bierman, M.D., CEO of Access Scientific, makers of the POWERWAND.