THE PROBLEM

It has been estimated that a single case of catheter-related bloodstream infection (CR-BSI) adds 7 to 20 days to hospital length of stay and up to $56,000 in additional cost, with total costs reaching as much as $2.3 billion in US intensive care units alone, each year.

In today’s world of multidrug-resistant bacteria and cost and resource efficiency control, the high failure rate of currently applied IV catheter systems mandates that the system be thoroughly questioned.

A catheter failure rate of 35% to 50% in the best of hands is unacceptable to patients, caregivers, and the health care system.

Placement of a PIVC is the most commonly performed invasive medical procedure. It may also be one of the greatest sources of patient dissatisfaction, as well as patient and nurse anxiety.

In other words - accepted, but unacceptable.

But why do PIVCs continue to fail in 2025?
PIVC Care Techniques and Technologies Applied Every Day Around the World are Fundamentally Inadequate

Two fundamentally inadequate insertion and care techniques were adopted to allow for the needed exponential growth of PIVC based therapy in the twentieth century:

Imperfect “Aseptic No-Touch” Technique (ANTT)

The catheter hub is grasped by non-sterile gloves that have touched multiple contaminated surfaces.

Unsealed Band-Aid Style, Cover-Over-Top Dressing Care

The round catheter tents up the flat dressing, leaving direct channels to the insertion site

The Result:

These two strategies result in 3 adverse structural and functional issues that are the main causes of the high PIVC failure rate:

Site Contamination at Placement

Inadequate

Securement / Stabilization