Unused IV catheters cost U.S. hospitals billions
Imagine a patient is admitted overnight for a mild UTI. In the ED, she is told that a peripheral IV catheter (PIVC) needs to be inserted. She asks why—after all, she is volume neutral, taking her daily medications by mouth without issue, and her CBC/CMP are unremarkable. “It is just a precaution,” she is told—just a benign step in the protocol. For the two days the patient is hospitalized, the …
