A comprehensive review of clinical nurse specialist-led peripherally inserted central catheter placement in Korea: 4101 cases in a tertiary hospital.

Peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) are expected to be convenient and reliable venous access devices. The purpose of this study was to analyze clinical nurse specialist (CNS)-led PICC placement and to describe its growth in a tertiary hospital. A computerized database identified 3508 patients who had PICCs placed between November 2001 and June 2010. One thousand, eight hundred ninety-eight of the 4101 PICCs were available for complete follow-up, and 791 of 1898 PICCs were still in place. The mean dwell time of 1898 PICCs was 27.4 days (1∼422 days). Most PICCs were removed after the completion of infusion therapy; the remainder were removed following death, occlusion, suspected infection, or phlebitis, or were removed by the patient. The study found that CNS-led PICC placement for infusion therapies was effective and safe with relatively low complication rates and that CNSs played important roles in the increased use of PICCs.