Prize for catheter care checklist suggestion

The RCVS Charitable Trust's has awarded Sarah Hancill, a registered vet nurse (RVN), winner of its "Driving Practice Innovation" competition.

Sarah submitted her idea for a peripheral venous catheter care checklist for the competition, winning herself £100 in shopping vouchers.

In her submission, she said: "The rationale behind the creation of the checklist is that, although intravenous catheter insertion has become common practice, breaking the skin barrier alters the hosts’ defence against infection, which increases the risk of local infection or bacteraemia with more serious complications such as septicaemia. This causes concern for patient safety.
 
"The peripheral venous catheter care checklist is intended to increase patient safety. It consists of 14 quality indicators, repeated every 24 hours over a 72 hour period.

She went on to explain the benefits that the checklist would provide as a practical tool for veterinary nurses to care for patients.

"It has an additional use as an educational tool to enable students to understand the correct protocol for caring for an intravenous catheter," added Sarah, who has a BSc (Hons) in Veterinary Nursing from the Royal Veterinary College (RVC). She became a RVN in 2011.

Sarah intends to spend her prize money on a pair of netball shoes, adding that she plays netball to help relieve the stresses of being a vet nurse.