More than one-fifth of physicians are unaware of the presence of a central venous catheter in their patients, according to a study in Annals of Internal Medicine.
Researchers surveyed clinicians across three academic medical centers in the United States to gauge awareness of CVC presence in their patients. Researchers evaluated 990 patients, 21.1 percent of whom had a CVC, and assessed 1,881 clinicians on their knowledge of its presence.
The survey demonstrated 21.2 percent of clinicians were unaware that their patient had a CVC.
Teaching attending physicians and hospitalists reported higher rates of being unaware of the CVC (25.8 percent and 30.5 percent, respectively) than interns and residents (16.4 percent). Additionally, critical care physicians reported lower rates of CVC unawareness (12.6 percent) than general medicine physicians (26.2 percent).
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