Impact of intravenous line occlusions in PICU
Abstract:
“Intravenous infusions for neonates often involve fast-acting medication with a short half life. The narrow therapeutic margins require a stable but low infusion flow rate, typically 0.5 mL/hour, which syringe pumps struggle to deliver reliably.1 Infusion alarms are reported2 but the rate of undetected line occlusions and the overall impact remains unclear. Here, we estimate the rate of line occlusions in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and the physiological consequences thereof.
We conducted a prospective service evaluation in the cardiac PICU of Freeman Hospital, Newcastle upon Tyne, from March to September 2021. Our aim was to quantify the frequency and impact of line occlusions on our PICU. For infants treated with intravenous epinephrine by syringe pump, we recorded the infusion line pressure (ILP) from the syringe pump and simultaneous invasive systolic blood pressure (SBP) where available from the patient monitor.”
Reference:
Bulmer J, Robinson C, Bray A, Drinnan M, Hanot J. Identifying occlusions in paediatric intravenous infusion therapy and evaluating impact on systolic blood pressure. Arch Dis Child. 2023 Feb 3:archdischild-2022-325007. doi: 10.1136/archdischild-2022-325007. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 36737234.