Nurses’ practice of peripherally inserted central catheter maintenance and its influencing factors in Guizhou province, China: a cross-sectional study

OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to investigate the level of practice of peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) maintenance among nurses in Guizhou province, China, and to explore its influencing factors. DESIGN: Cross-sectional study. SETTING: 11 tertiary and 26 secondary hospitals of Guizhou province, China. PARTICIPANTS: A total of 832 nurses engaged in clinical work of PICC maintenance participated in the present study. PRIMARY OUTCOME MEASURES: PICC maintenance knowledge questionnaire, PICC maintenance attitude questionnaire and PICC maintenance practice questionnaire were administrated online for measuring participants’ knowledge, attitude and practice of PICC maintenance, respectively. RESULTS: The mean score of nurses’ practice of PICC maintenance was 79.77±12.13 and 60.8% of participants reported acceptable practices of PICC maintenance. The availability of PICC guidelines (β=0.10, p=0.002), previous training on PICC maintenance (β=0.18, p<0.001) and attitudes toward PICC maintenance (β=0.48, p<0.001) were significant factors predicting nurses’ practices of PICC maintenance. These factors account for 33% of the variance in the practice of PICC maintenance. CONCLUSION: Nurses’ practice of PICC maintenance in Guizhou province was unsatisfactory. Their practice was influenced by the availability of PICC guidelines, whether or not they received training and their attitudes toward PICC maintenance. A province-level PICC maintenance alliance is recommended to be established to improve the quality of PICC maintenance in Guizhou, which can develop or update PICC guidelines, and provide training on PICC maintenance regularly for nurses engaging in PICC maintenance.