Every IV starts with the goal of safe, effective therapy. Yet despite decades of progress in vascular access, IV complications remain one of the most frequent—and underestimated—sources of preventable harm in hospitals.
Whether in the NICU, ICU or on an adult oncology floor, infiltration and extravasation events compromise patient safety, disrupt care, and increase cost and liability exposure.
Despite being labeled “routine,” these complications carry measurable clinical and financial consequences—ranging from prolonged length of stay to sentinel events when high-risk medications are involved
The Problem: A Widespread Safety Gap Hiding in Plain Sight
Unlike central line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), PIVIE events are not designated as hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) by CMS or other reporting bodies. As a result, there is no national mandate to measure, report, or benchmark them.
The impact:
- Most hospitals do not know their own infiltration or extravasation rates.
- Data on IV failures, complications, and related harm are buried within incident reports, not captured at all or misdiagnosed.
- Because the harm is often seen as “routine,” PIVIEs rarely trigger root-cause analysis or performance improvement review.
This lack of visibility creates a blind spot in patient safety programs. What isn’t measured can’t be managed—and what isn’t managed continues to cause harm.
While clinicians understand that IV complications are frequent, few organizations have the data to quantify their scope, cost, or preventability. In most facilities, peripheral IVs represent the majority of vascular access devices in use, yet the systems built to monitor and improve outcomes largely overlook them.
Continuous monitoring changes that equation. It provides real-time, objective data on IV site integrity—finally giving hospitals the visibility needed to measure, prevent, and manage infiltration and extravasation before they escalate into injury.
The Highest Risk Groups
Children, and particularly neonates, along with critically ill adults have the most fragile vasculature and the least ability to communicate early symptoms.
The data is clear:
- IV failure rates in pediatric populations range from 35–50% (Helder et al., J Infus Nurs, 2020).
- In a 2025 BMJ Open NICU study, infiltration rates reached 87% before continuous monitoring was introduced. After implementing ivWatch, severe injuries fell by 93% (Al-Khater et al., BMJ Open, 2025).
- Over 50% of peripheral IVs fail before therapy completion (Helm et al., J Infus Nurs, 2015).
- At Frimley Health NHS (U.K.), 2–3 iron extravasations per week were eliminated after adopting ivWatch continuous monitoring (Barton et al., IVAS Report, 2023).
- Injuries such as iron staining can cause permanent discoloration and psychological distress (Dougherty et al., Cancer Nurs Pract, 2008).
Why This Matters for Quality and Risk Leadership
While many institutions consider IV complications as “just part of care” — the data tells a different story:
- High frequency: PIVIEs occur and up to half of all IVs placed fail.
- Preventable: Early detection prevents escalation to tissue injury and severe patient harm.
- Costly: Each event can add days to hospitalization, increase supply and staffing costs, medication dosing errors, and contribute to claims or patient dissatisfaction.
- Reputation impact: Preventable injuries erode patient trust and institutional quality metrics.
For Quality and Risk teams, this represents both a safety opportunity and a compliance imperative—aligned with national goals for harm reduction and nursing efficiency.
The Solution: Continuous Monitoring Across Care Settings
Traditional visual and tactile assessments occur only every 1–4 hours, leaving significant windows where infiltration or extravasation can progress and go unnoticed.
Continuous IV site monitoring with ivWatch:
- Provides real-time detection of infiltration and extravasation.
- Offers an objective, continuous layer of protection alongside standard nursing assessments.
- Detects subclinical changes early—often before visible symptoms appear.
- Generates timely alerts that prompt intervention before injury occurs.
If your goal is to reduce preventable harm, strengthen IV safety practices, and align with quality improvement metrics, now is the time to evaluate continuous monitoring.
Learn more:
- Schedule a clinical evaluation or demo with ivWatch.
- Explore published data and outcomes at ivWatch.com.
- Download The Causes Tool to help your teams identify and address root causes of IV failure.