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. Nurses completed the "Survey on Nurses" perceived DIVA factors that asked them to rate each factor using a 0 (not at all predictive) to 10 (extremely predictive) numeric rating scale. Compared to nurses who cared for patients with solid tumours, those who cared for patients with hematologic malignancies rated the following predictors higher: patient is overweight, patient has obesity, occurrence of psychomotor agitation, and occurrence of needle phobia or anxiety. Findings can be used to guide the education of infusion unit nurses on specific risk factors for DIVA.