IV News

Intravenous cannula history

Posted by on Dec 5, 2008 | One Comment

Today we stumbled across another piece of IV history, this time on the Sheffield Museum of Anaesthesia website – click here to view. The website presents various devices of intravenous interest, including the first one-piece plastic IV cannula, introduced by B Braun (Germany) in 1962 as the ‘Braunule’. Imported into the UK by Armour Pharmaceutical Co Ltd and the name was anglicised to ‘Braunula’.

They also present an interesting selection of various intravenous needles used prior to the introduction of plastic cannulae – click here to view.

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1 Comment

  1. Dr Kadiyali M Srivatsa
    December 8, 2008

    I have been working on IV Cannula since 1989 and have spent my life time warning about the danger associated with this simple life saving technique. Sine the Baunula was invented; I have not seen any clinical study conducted to establish the problems. Doctors and nurses seem to accept failures and often blame the veins.

    We have audited and now Royal Hampshire Hospital, UK has claimed to have eliminated MRSA bloodstream infections by stopping the routine practice of administering intravenous injections. By prescribing the use of IV Cannula by specialist and signed off by a doctor to ensure that they are used only when absolutely necessary. MRSA infection was reduced from 11 to nil in 2007. (Times UK April, 2008 & BBC News 2008)

    Many doctors claim a high success rate for inserting cannula, but may still require several attempts to get it right in certain cases. In emergencies optimal attention to aseptic technique is not always feasible and multiple punctures are more likely to result in introducing bacterial infection. (GMC Today; 11-January 2007)

    We must make sure the skin where the cannula is inserted is germ free and the user does not touch the skin using unsterile glove. Not many have heard about the importance of “Drying Time” nor told about the ethical delima of introducing infections.

    High failure rate (60% of doctors insert cannula in 1st attempt, and 90% at the end of 2 years), poor aseptic technique, failure of antiseptics to kill pose danger of introducing antibiotic resistant bacteria into a vein by doctors and nurses result in bacteraemia and death. (How Safe Are Cannula? Arab Health World; 2008)