Study on How Often to Change Infusion Lines to Prevent Infections in ICU Patients with Central Venous Catheters

What this Trial Is About

In intensive care units, patients often need central venous catheters for care and safe medication delivery, but these devices can lead to infections. Most prevention focuses on how catheters are inserted and handled, but the length of time the catheter stays in place is a main source of infection. This research compares changing infusion sets every 7 days versus every 4 days to see if less frequent changes increase infection risk while considering impacts on nursing workload and costs. The study involves two groups one where infusion sets connected to the catheter are replaced every 7 days, and another where they are replaced every 4 days, the current standard recommendation. Each replacement involves disconnecting old sets and replacing them with new sterile ones. Both procedures are performed by qualified nurses during the patients ICU stay. Participants are adult ICU patients with a central venous catheter placed less than 72 hours ago and expected to remain for at least 7 days. Researchers will monitor infections related to the catheter from insertion until 48 hours after removal, along with bloodstream infections, catheter colonization, ICU length of stay, mortality, nursing time, and replacement costs. The study follows patients up to 90 days to collect these outcomes and assess the effects of the different replacement schedules.

Impact of Infusion Line Change Frequency on Infectious Complications Related to Central Venous Catheters in the ICU - A Randomized Controlled Trial