Infusion unit nurses' ratings of risk factors for difficult intravenous access (DIVA) differ based on patients' type of cancer.

The majority of patients receiving cancer chemotherapy are treated in the outpatient setting and require peripheral intravenous (IV) access. The purpose of this work was to evaluate for differences in infusion unit nurses' ratings of predictors of difficult intravenous access (DIVA) based on whether they cared for patients with solid tumours versus hematologic malignancies. Nurses (N=152) received an email with a link to a Qualtrics survey.

Number of Intravenous Insertions Per Week Does Not Influence Infusion Nurses' Ratings of Risk Factors for Difficult Intravenous Access (DIVA).

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate differences in nurses' ratings of risk factors for difficult intravenous access (DIVA) between oncology infusion unit nurses who perform ≤ 10 insertions compared to > 10 insertions per week.

Methods: An email requesting that recipients complete a revised version of the "Survey on Nurses" perceived DIVA factors that contained a list of 53 risk factors was sent to 152 nurses, of whom 81 responded. Nurses rated each DIVA risk factor, using a 0 (not at all predictive) to 10 (extremely predictive) scale.