Degree Name
Nursing Practice, DNP
Publication Date
9-27-2026
First Advisor
Lisa Drake
Second Advisor
Jason Weger
Abstract
Peripheral intravenous catheters (PIVCs) remain a patient safety concern because inappropriate management can increase the risk of catheter-related bloodstream infections, prolonged hospitalization, and increased healthcare costs. A vascular access assessment at an acute care hospital identified inconsistent PIVC assessment practices and inadequate documentation, highlighting the need for a standardized approach to vascular access management. This quality improvement project evaluated the impact of education on the I-DECIDED framework on nurses' confidence in PIVC assessment and clinical decision-making. Guided by the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model and Lewin's Theory of Planned Change, the project used a quantitative, quasi-experimental, one-group pretest-posttest design. Twenty-three medical-surgical nurses completed the adapted Grundy Confidence Scale (C-Scale) before and after the intervention. The Shapiro-Wilk test indicated a nonnormal distribution of difference scores (W = .88, p = .009); therefore, a Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used. Confidence scores increased significantly from pre-intervention (M = 18.09, SD = 2.95) to post-intervention (M = 20.65, SD = 0.71), V = 0.00, z = -3.64, p < .001, with a large effect size (d = 1.06). Findings indicate that education on the I-DECIDED framework improved nurses' confidence in PIVC assessment and clinical decision-making. Although the study did not measure practice change or patient outcomes, the results support structured, evidence-based education to strengthen nurses' confidence in vascular access assessment and clinical decision-making.
Rights Management
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License
Recommended Citation
Sanchez, Pepe, "Quality Improvement Project: Improving Nurses’ Confidence in Peripheral Intravenous Catheter Assessment Through the I-DECIDED Framework" (2026). Doctor of Nursing Practice Projects. 408.
https://arch.astate.edu/dnp-projects/408
