Buetti N, Abbas M, Pittet D, et al. - The findings of this cohort analysis, which used a large prospective surveillance database, imply that replacing peripheral intravenous catheters (PVCs) only when clinically required may be associated with an increased incidence of peripheral intravenous catheter bloodstream infections (PVC-BSIs) as compared to routine replacement. Even though PVC-associated BSI is a rare occurrence, the usage of PVCs in the majority of patients makes this outcome noteworthy.

• In total, 412,631 PVCs with documented catheter duration were involved (164,331 patients; median [interquartile range] patient age, 51 [33-72] years; 88,928 [54.1%] female): 241,432 PVCs at baseline, 130,779 at intervention, and 40,420 at reversion.

• During the baseline period, 11 PVC-BSIs were recorded, 46 during the intervention phase, and 4 during the reversion period.

• The number of monthly inserted PVCs reduced during the intervention period, despite the fact that the monthly number of PVC-days remained steady across all study periods.

• When compared with the baseline and reversion periods, the number of PVCs still in place after 4 or 7 days was higher during the intervention period.

• The intervention phase had a considerably higher IRR of PVC-BSIs than the baseline period, however, there was no significant rise during the reversion period.