Evaluation of the safety and efficacy of peripheral vasopressors to decrease central line placement and associated bloodstream infections

Background In 2020, as a result of evidence of demonstrated safety of an initial pilot program, our institution set out to implement a peripheral vasopressor infusion protocol. Objective To evaluate the use of peripheral lines for vasopressor administration to reduce placement of unnecessary central lines and central line days. Methods This is an Institutional Review Board approved, single center retrospective chart review conducted as pre/post-analysis. Our hospital is a quaternary care, level 1 trauma center in Hartford, Connecticut that serves 100,000-120,000 patients annually. Patients >18 years admitted to an intensive care unit (ICU) were included if meeting protocol specific inclusion criteria pertaining to moderate expected duration and dose of vasopressor. Patients were excluded if vasculature not supportive of placement of two peripheral intravenous (PIV) sites, PIV sites without brisk blood return, had a limb restriction, or metacarpal line. All analyses were conducted with SPSS v. 26 (IBM; Armonk, NY 2019), using an a priori alpha level of 0.05 such that all results yielding p < .05 were deemed statistically significant. Primary efficacy outcomes of this study are number of central lines placed and number of central line days. The primary safety outcome is the number of extravasation events attributed to peripheral administration of vasopressors. Results Overall, 146 patients avoided central line placement constituting a 58.4% ( p < .001) decrease in central line placement with peripheral vasopressor use. Out of 382 administrations there were a total of 14 extravasation events that occurred with peripheral vasopressor use in the post-intervention group. Implementation was associated with a statistically significant reduction in CLABSI occurrence. Conclusions The results of this analysis demonstrate that vasopressors can peripherally administered safely, when proximal to the antecubital fossa, at lower doses, and for short durations of infusion with minimal adverse events.