Evaluation of the Difficult Intravenous Access (DIVA) Scoring in Hospitalized Pediatric Patients

Highlights Abstract Background: First-attempt success rate for placing pediatric peripheral intravenous (PIV) catheters ranges from to 24% to 52%. Multiple attempts can increase risk of deleterious outcomes. It is essential to screen pediatric patients appropriately to identify those who will require additional resources for successful PIV placement. Methods: A convenience sample of hospitalized pediatric patients 0 to 18 years of age on a general care unit was used in this performance improvement project. Prior to attempting PIV access, nurses completed a data collection tool that included elements of established difficult intravenous access (DIVA) tools as well as first-attempt successful PIV placement. The primary outcome measure was to determine if each DIVA scoring tool is accurate in predicting the need for additional resources to achieve successful first-attempt PIV placement. The secondary outcome measure was to compare the predictive value of each DIVA scoring tool among an inpatient pediatric population. Following data exploration and cleaning, a correlation analysis was performed with logistic regression to assess DIVA score effectiveness in predicting success of PIV insertion on the first attempt. Results: Out of 133 children, 167 PIV attempts were analyzed with 150 PIV attempts included in the final data analysis. Of the 150 PIV attempts analyzed, 60% (n = 90) were successful on the first attempt. Performance of prediction for first-time insertion success was comparable among all 4 DIVA scoring tools. Conclusions: None of the 4 DIVA scoring tools were superior in predicting first-time PIV placement among hospitalized children. Vein palpability was more predictive, although not statistically significant.