-transparent.png){kind=logo}
The authors conducted a randomized, prospective, controlled trial of three different dressings for peripheral intravenous catheters in 301 acutely ill medical inpatients. Catheters were dressed with dry clean gauze or one of two brands of transparent plastic. The gauze dressings remained in place significantly longer (47 hours median) than either Uniflex (39 hours) of Tegaderm (32 hours) transparent plastic dressings (p = 0.026). Catheters were removed for complications (inflammation, mechanical failure, or infiltration) in 35% of the gauze group, compared with 58% of the Uniflex group and 48% of the Tegaderm group (p = 0.015). Not only were inflamed venipuncture sites seen less often with gauze, inflammation occurred later (p = 0.002) and with lesser severity. Dry gauze dressings resulted in longer catheter life, lower complication rates, and less expense than transparent plastic dressings for peripheral intravenous catheters.
B Littenberg, and
L Thompson
September 1995,
The Nursing clinics of North America,
B Littenberg, and
L Thompson
January 1991,
Ostomy/wound management,
B Littenberg, and
L Thompson
October 2008,
Archives of surgery (Chicago, Ill. : 1960),
B Littenberg, and
L Thompson
July 1965,
Svensk farmaceutisk tidskrift,
B Littenberg, and
L Thompson
January 2000,
Advances in skin & wound care,
B Littenberg, and
L Thompson
April 1996,
Paediatric nursing,
B Littenberg, and
L Thompson
January 2011,
Journal of nursing care quality,
B Littenberg, and
L Thompson
August 1948,
Lancet (London, England),
