Who Should be Involved in the Selection Of Venous Access Devices?
The purposes of this study were to describe who should be involved in the vascular access device (VAD) decision-making process, according to patients and caregivers, and to describe if there were differences associated with persons involved in the selection of VADs according to race and gender. Convenience sample included 32 oncology out-patients and 10 caregivers from the southern United States. There were differences by race and sex in decision-making priorities of patients with vascular access devices indwelling; however, these were not statistically significant. Patients, physicians, and oncology nurses were viewed by both patients and caregivers as significant to the decision-making process. In contrast, caregivers were ranked as the least significant by both patients and caregivers. Females chose the physician as the primary decision-maker while males chose the patient as the primary decision-maker.Abstract
Contributor Notes
Cynthia Chernecky, RN, PhD, AOCN is an Associate Professor in the School of Nursing, Department of Adult Health, at the Medical College of Georgia. She has two programs of research focused on lung cancer and venous access devices, is responsible for the acute and critical care graduate master's nursing track, and is an ex-officio of the critical care special interest group of the Oncology Nursing Society.
Denise Macklin, RN, BSN, CRNI (PI), is President and founder of Professional Learning Systems (PLS) Inc. in Marietta, Georgia. She is certified in IV Therapy and Adult/Staff education and her work includes production of training videos for vascular access and interactive programs for medical manufacturers and the CDC. She is founder and editor of www.ceuzone.com, an online nursing continuing education Internet site.
Katherine Nugent, RN, PhD, is Professor of Parent-Child Nursing and the Associate Dean for Academic Programs in the School of Nursing at the Medical College of Georgia. Her research expertise is in qualitative focus groups, and she has published extensively in the area of education.
Jennifer L. Waller, PhD is Assistant Professor, Office of Biostatistics and Bioinformatics, Medical College of Geogia, Augusta, Georgia.