Effectiveness Of Intermittent Normal Saline Flush To Maintain The Patency Of Peripheral Intravenous Catheter Among Patients In Vijaya hospitals and Joseph hospital at Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu

This study is focused on the effectiveness of intermittent normal saline flush to maintain the patency of peripheral intravenous catheter among patients in Vijaya hospitals and Joseph hospital at Kanyakumari district, Tamil Nadu. The investigator formulated a hypothesis, which stated that the normal saline flush before and after administration of drugs will help to maintain the peripheral intravenous patency than those patient who did not receive the normal saline flush. Flushing procedures are necessary before and after the administration of intermittent medications through a capped catheter lumen; before and after blood sampling or the infusion of blood products; before and after the administration of incompatible medications; and when converting a catheter from a continuous to an intermittent infusion. A pilot study was conducted for about one week in the month of October to assess the feasibility of the tool. The main study was conducted for four weeks from November1,2013 to November 30,2013) The investigator used convenience sampling technique and selected a sample of 60 patients in which 30 experimental and 30 control group where taken. A written consent was obtained from the patient. The data were collected by using patency scale with ten items. The investigator had applied descriptive and inferential statistic to analyze the data regarding demographic variables and effectiveness of normal saline flush. Results: The findings revealed that in the experimental group, after the intervention of normal saline flushing, 24(80.%) patients had patent intravenous cannula for 72 hours. There was a significant difference in the patency status of intravenous cannula between the experimental and the control group (t(60) = 3.39 at 0.05 level of significance).The study result revealed that the experimental group has got 24(80%) no blockage in contradict the control group has 3(10%) blockage, The mild blockage is around 6(20%) among experimental group whereas the control group got 10(33.3%) mild blockage. Among control group the moderate blockage was 8(26.6%) and the severe blockage is 9(30%) in contrast the experimental group has no severe and moderate blockage.