Efficacy of VeinViewer in Pediatric Peripheral Intravenous Access: a Randomized Controlled Trial

Peripheral venous access is usually required for administration of fluids or medications in hospitalized children. Even for experts, peripheral venipuncture in infants and adolescents is difficult because of small and deeply-located veins. Several devices adjunct to vein identification and catheter insertion have been devised in the attempt to optimize peripheral catheterization.  

In this study, each patient ranging from gender and age was randomized to either the VeinViewer or control group according to a computer-generated random number. Total 111 patients were randomized into one of the two groups, with 54 in the VeinViewer group and 57 in the control group.

The group assignment card for each patient was sealed in an opaque envelope until the assessment for the difficulty of intravenous access was completed. In the VeinViewer, venipuncture was conducted aided by VeinViewer for the first attempt. If the first attempt failed, the decision about whether to use the VeinViewer in subsequent attempts was left to the nurse’s discretion regardless of the patient allocated group.

Result, The VeinViewer was helpful in pediatric patients who were predicted to have difficult venous access, enhancing first-attempt success rate.

For more details, click here