Reflections on leading an IV team: strategies and impact

Ten years ago, I was tasked with setting up an intravenous (IV) team within my trust to improve standards and help reduce the incidence of IV-related meticillin-resistant Staphyloccocus aureas (MRSA) bacteraemia. Hence, my dream was born out of bringing about change and ensuring evidence-based IV practice was implemented. Reflecting on the past decade, as our team evolved with a shift from education and training to a more active role in vascular access, I wanted to share the strategies that have been key to our success. At the outset, the team had 3 members but has today expanded to a staff of 8.

In 2009, a trust-wide point prevalence audit of all IV devices identified three themes that needed to be addressed. I tackled each of these with three strategies that came to be known as Project HANDS (Table 1) (Caguioa, et al, 2012).