Peripheral Intravenous Infiltration and Extravasations - PIVIE

What You Can Do

• Ask your doctor and nurses to explain why your child needs a peripheral IV and how long your child will have it.
• Do not let family and friends who visit touch the IV site or any tubing.
• Call your nurse if you notice your child has swelling, pain, numbness, redness or bruising around the IV site, or if the area is wet, firm, hot, or cold to touch.

Why This Measure is Important

• A Peripheral Line (PIV) is a small short plastic catheter most commonly used in patients in the hospital setting. They are placed in small veins in the scalp, hand or arm for short durations to delivering fluids or medicine.  When the fluid in the PIV leaks (infiltrates) into tissue around the site that is known as an extravasation.
• PIVIEs can extend hospital stays, and require treatment or interventions to correct the event. You are key in helping us to know your child while they are in the hospital with us.

How We Measure

• The number of PIVIE events is per 1000 patient days. Each day your child is in the hospital counts as one patient day.
• Our goal is to maintain PIVIE event rates lower than the national benchmark, ultimately driving towards zero.

What We Are Doing to Improve

• Consistently use a set of best practices, called “bundles,” to minimize the risk of these events.
• Participate in Solutions for Patient Safety, a national improvement collaborative focused on eliminating all patient harm by sharing ideas, data, and best practices among United States children’s hospitals.
• Review monthly, as a team, all cases of moderate and severe PIVIE to identify opportunities for improvement.