The Effects of the route that antibiotics are given, in liquid or by pouche, on occurence of phlebitis and extravasation in children

SUMMARY THE EFFECTS OF THE ROUTE THAT ANTIBIOTICS ARE GIVEN, IN LIQUID OR BY POUCHE, ON OCCURENCE OF PHLEBITIS AND EXTRAVASATION IN CHILDREN Saniye ÇİMEN This research was conducted semi-empirically to evaluate the occurence of extravasation and phlebitis, the time of recovery from these complications, and percieved pain during penicillin administration in children treated with crystallized penicillin given in liquid or by pouche. The research sample included two groups (the control group, n=30; and the test group, n=30; total=60) of in patient children whose ages varied between 2 and 8 years; the subjects were treated with crystallized penicillin in the pediatric department of Dokuz Eylül University Hospital, between January 1996 and May 1997. We used a Data Collection Sheet which included the information about assessment of the dependent variables, i.e. phlebitis and extravasation, and of the independent variables, such as identifying information about the subjects, infusion equipments, solutions, and drugs. The data was evaluated with student t test, Marm-whitney U test, and Chi-square test. Penicillin was given either by pouche, in the control (C) group, or in liquid, in the test (T) group. The subjects in the control group developed more complications than those in the test group, (C: 60 %, T: 40 %, P>0.05), and the number of complications per subject was significantly higher in the control group, because repeated complications occured in this grup, within 72 h.(C: X= 0.7, T: X= 0.4, p<0.05). More extravasations were observed in the control group (C: 40 %, T: 20 %, p>0.05), and 16.6 percent of the subjects in this group developed extravasation for the second time. The number of children who developed phlebitis was equal in both groups (23.3 %, p>0.05) but, phlebitis occured repeatedly in 44.4 percent of the patients in the control group. The degree of phlebitis in the control group was significantly more severe than that observed in the test group (C: X= 2.0, T: X= 1.1, p<0.05) and the recovery from these complications was longer though this difference was not significant, (recovery in 24 h; C: 61.1 %, T: 91.7 %, recovery in 25-48 h ; C: 33.3 %, T: 8.3 %, recovery in 96-120 h; C: 5.6 %, T: none, p>0.05). In the control group, the subject were observed that they felt more pain during penicilline infusion, and the average number of painful infusions, (C: 5.1±0.6 ; T: 1.5±0.4) was much significantly higher (p>0.001). Recommendations were made accordingly to the results. Key Words : Peripheral intravenous cannule, infusion, complication, phlebitis, extravasation, treatment with crystallized penicillin, child.