Erika Brown and Stacie Hunsaker, Brigham Young University
Health
Health care professionals are often challenged with starting an intravenous (IV) line in patients who are dehydrated, have suffered trauma, or are in shock. Nurses and physicians can become frustrated by the multiple attempts and patients can lose valuable time. An alternative route to deliver the needed fluids and medications to these critical patients can be achieved by accessing the blood supply inside the bone. Intraosseous (IO) access is a safe, rapid, and an effective alternative method to deliver medications and fluids to these critical patients (Hunsaker and Hillis, 2013). I was mentored in the practice of qualitative research and interview process in a study related to difficult IV access. A qualitative research study was performed at Hospital Luis Vernaza in Guayaquil, Ecuador, to determine the complications faced in providing timely care to critical patients, and to assess their knowledge and use of IO therapy. Interviews were performed, and, because of my fluency in the Spanish language, I was the primary interviewer. These interviews were analyzed to assess the need of interventional IO therapy. Through the interviews, preliminary results demonstrated a need for an organized IV algorithm in this large hospital. The difficult IV algorithm has been developed and will be presented to the health care professionals at Hospital Luis Vernaza in the spring of 2015 on a Brigham Young University College of Nursing Global Health stay in Guayaquil, Ecuador.