The Effect of Intravenous Administration with Body Temperature on Indwelling of Peripheral Venous Catheters

Intravenous (IV) catheter insertion is the most common invasive hospital procedure and its related complications are costly for both patients and the healthcare system. Phlebitis or inflammation of the vein is an important cause of premature catheter failure.

This study aimed to determine the effect of IV administration with body temperature on indwelling of peripheral venous catheter.

This randomized controlled clinical trial was conducted among 106 patients who required IV administration and were admitted to internal wards of Imam Ali Hospital in Sarayan, Iran in 2016. The patients were randomly divided into an intervention (n = 53) and a control (n = 53) group via permuted block randomization with four blocks. The solutions and medications were infused by infusion pump SN-1500SERIAL at body temperature (37 ℃) in the intervention group and at a mean temperature of 24 ℃ in the control group. The insertion sites were observed every two hours for evidence of phlebitis according to the Infusion Nurses Society. The indwelling of the peripheral vein catheter was also recorded every two hours. The data were collected using an information sheet and were analyzed by t-test and chi-square test using the SPSS 16 software. P < 0.05 was considered to be statistically significant.

There were no significant differences between the two groups in terms of age, sex, education level, marital status, underlying diseases, addiction, Body Mass Index (BMI), and the mean received volume of infused fluids. The results also showed no significant differences between the two groups in terms of occurrence of phlebitis (P = 0.28). Despite the increase in the indwelling of the peripheral vein catheter in the two groups, the differences were not statistically significant (P = 0.13).

Although IV administration with body temperature has been reported to be slightly effective in indwelling of the peripheral venous catheter, this study showed no significant evidence. Thus, further studies are recommended to be conducted on lower and higher degrees than body temperature (37 ℃).