Peripheral intravenous catheter-associated phlebitis and drug administration: retrospective incident analysis

Background: Phlebitis is a complication associated with peripheral intravenous catheters and an adverse event. Objective: To analyze peripheral intravenous catheter-associated phlebitis incidents associated and drug administration to adult inpatients and their consequences. Methodology: Quantitative, retrospective, descriptive, and cross-sectional study. Non-probabilistic convenience sampling technique was used, with 96 adult patients hospitalized in 2019 selected in the area of medicine at a Hospital Center in Lisbon. The type of phlebitis incident was characterized using the Visual Infusion Phlebitis scale adapted and translated to European Portuguese. Patient harm was categorized according to the International Classification for Patient Safety (ICPS). Results: Of the documented phlebitis incidents, 78% obtained a score 2 on the VIP PT-PT scale. According to the ICPS, 87.5% resulted in mild harm and 12.5% in moderate harm. Antibiotics were the most frequent therapeutic group. Conclusion: Phlebitis has an impact on patient safety. The importance of nursing care is reinforced, with a focus on surveillance and early detection of phlebitis to prevent complications.