A Comparison of Accuvein to Standard IV Access in Children 0 to 24 Months of Age in the Pediatric ED

Study Summary

Obtaining intravenous (IV) access in children under the age of 2 years is difficult, especially in the emergency department (ED) where the children can be frightened, dehydrated and ill. Often it requires multiple needle sticks and nurses to place an IV in a difficult child. In our ED the recently acquired an Accuvein AV400 device. This infrared light, like a barcode scanner, makes the veins on a child appear like roads on a map. This ideally shows the nurse where to place and direct the needle. This device is approved by the FDA to work with children and has not been shown to have any harmful effects. However, there are no studies showing whether this device helps in the difficult less than 2 year olds seen in the emergency department. This study will be to directly compare placing an IV in a child under 2 years of age with the AV400 versus not using the device. A physician, medical student, or nurse practitioner who has been trained on how to observe nurses place IVs will enroll children who require an IV for their ED clinical care (as determined by their ED doctors). This person will consent the parents, ask the parents questions regarding the child's past medical history, and have the nurse look at the veins of the child ahead of the IV access attempt to rate the level of difficulty expected (easy, moderate, difficult). Whether the child has the IV attempt performed with or without the AV400 will be computer randomized. The nurse will attempt to place the IV, and the study staff will observe and record the number of attempts, size of the IV catheter, and location of the IV. If 2 attempts are failed, the patient will "cross over" to the other condition, that is if AV400 was being used then it will not be used, and if AV400 was not being used then it will be used. If there are 4 failed attempts at IV placement, then the child will be treated as per our department's difficult IV access protocol, which is applied to all children with difficult IV access regardless

Primary Outcome

Successful: Intravenous line successfully placed with blood able to be drawn back and fluid able to be flushed into the vein. Flashback but IV blown: blood initially successfully drawn back or seen in the syringe, but subsequently unable to flush fluid into the vein. No flashback: no blood drawn back into or seen in the syringe at all. Missing data: data not recorded regarding success or flashback.

Interventions

• DEVICE Accuvein AV400