INTRAVASCULAR QUARTERLY
VASCULAR ACCESS DEVICE USE IN SKILLED NURSING FACILITIES More than 1.6 million patients are cared for in the 15,000 licensed skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2016). Approximately 3% (48,000) of patients in these facilities require vascular access for intravenous therapy (LTC Pharmacy Provider, source). As of date, there are only five studies over the last 15 years, that have been published on this patient population in this care setting.
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Comparatively, there are approximately 6,000 hospitals in the United States. A search of articles published since 2007 related to vascular access device (VAD) utilization and outcomes in acute care settings yields hundreds of results. The limited studies in SNFs demonstrate significantly higher complication rates for VADs compared to acute care settings including CLABSI, catheter migration and dislodgment, catheter occlusion, and deep vein thrombosis, leading to resident transfers to the emergency department and subsequent hospitalizations (Hand, 2016; Harrod et al., 2016; Chopra, Montoya, et al., 2015).
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THE E-NEWS PUBLICATION OF THE ASSOCIATION FOR VASCULAR ACCESS
