Capella University

NURS FPX 9010 Assessment 2 Free Sample Project Proposal Student name Capella University NURS-FPX9010 Professor name Submission date Outpatient infusion-related complications continue to be a problem with regard to patient safety. In the current project site, a privately owned outpatient wellness and infusion center, baseline data illustrate that as much as 14 percent of infusion encounters had complications with documentation (Clinical Director, personal communication, January 15, 2026). Victorious inconsistencies in measuring IV sites, differences in following aseptic techniques, and people not recording all procedures were all important factors (Nickel et al., 2024). Peripheral complications of IVs (e.g., phlebitis, infiltration, catheter occlusion) result in additional discomfort for a patient and are an interruption in continuity of care (Marsh et al., 2024). Standardization of evidence-based best practices of care will help close the patient safety and quality of care gaps. How does Infusion Therapy Standard with structured IV site assessment and the use of aseptic technique training (I) for outpatient infusion therapy (P) compare to current practice (C) in adult patients with the incidence of infusion-related complications (O) over 8 weeks (T)? A body of published literature supported a structured, comprehensive infusion care protocol, which has been shown to reduce peripheral IV catheters and improve the accuracy of written documentation related to the care of the catheters (Demiroğlu & Tosun, 2025). When competency-based training courses are used to provide evidence-based guidelines for assessing nursing practice with regard to the standardisation of assessment and infection prevention processes, adherence to the guidelines by nurses increased (Lewis et al., 2022). The use of evidence-based quality improvement (QI) models has consistently shown that there are quantifiable reductions in preventable adverse events in the ambulatory care setting related to infusion-related procedures. Practice Problem The Clinical Director provided a retrospective review of infusion records for eight weeks over the course of which 14% of infusion-related experiences had complications (Clinical Director, personal communication, January 15, 2026). Again, the most common types of complications were phlebitis at 6%, infiltration at 5%, and the catheter had to be reinserted due to occlusion at 3% (Clinical Director, personal communication, January 15, 2026). Difficulty with OADs and failure to follow up with the patients were persistent problems across the world in outpatient parenteral antimicrobial therapy (OPAT) programs (Wolie et al., 2024). This evidence suggests a critical need for improvement in the service being delivered to the patients on site and that this change needs to be made based on the best available scientific evidence. Lack of consistent clinical processes and standardization in outpatient settings has been established as a major contributor to avoidable complications. Beaudart et al. (2023) found that significantly high patient-to-nurse ratios, poor interdisciplinary communication, and frequent nursing staff changes increased the risk of medication errors in outpatient infusion therapy in the prospective study. Infusion therapy patients had similar issues with inconsistent and inadequate peripheral IV insertion and maintenance skills. In a study by Costa et al. (2022), 26% of 470 patients with a peripheral IV had complications directly related to the poor adherence to the ATNT. The systematic review and meta-analysis performed by Marsh et al. (2024) showed a correlation between inconsistent international practices of catheter care and the incidence of PIVF and PIVI. Previously collected data (chart audits, electronic health records, direct observational assessments) clearly indicated that the project team was identifying some inconsistent and/or non-standardized practices within the clinic. Flawed Processes Leading to the Practice Problem There is a great gap between current infusion practices and the accepted scientifically based standards of practice at local, national and international levels and there is good documentation for this gap. A third of patients with OPT (35.6%) have experienced a complication with the infusion of the medication, as reported by Staples et al. (2022), so the problems with infusion safety in outpatient settings are pervasive and have been ongoing. Young et al. (2023) confirmed that outpatient procedures are continuing to become more complex and it is essential for safe practice protocols to be continually refined to ensure the safety of an ever-diversifying cohort of medically frail patients. Nickel et al. (2024) emphasized the importance of regular assessment by validated IV sit grading scales and consistently good aseptic practice techniques for all IV accesses as part of a set of standards for safety. The 14% complication rate found at the site is noteworthy and illustrates its above threshold of <10% reported at other institutions which have standardized their service delivery methodology to support this critical need for intervention. There has always been evidence that will be consistent and extensive for the need to take a structure and  protocol-directed approach to infusions to minimise chance for complications which are avoidable if a best practice approach is practised when an infusion is given in an outpatient sector. Demiroğlu and Tosun (2025) who also included a bundle of evidence-based practices as protocolized care were able to demonstrate statistically significant (p < 0.05) reductions in the occurrence of phlebitis when compared to those receiving regular care. Training to ensure competency has been shown to increase patient safety in the clinical setting, to provide a staff member with the skills level needed and to enhance the sustainability of quality improvement interventions implemented (Lewis et al., 2022). Standardized assessment of all IVs by nursing staff using standardized protocols to validate nursing staff competencies has the potential to improve the quality of IV insertion and statistically reduce adverse events associated with IVs (Jacobs, 2022). Things like IV site assessment and adhering to the procedures of aseptic technique are the basic standards of keeping IVs safe in an outpatient setting and are termed fundamental safety measures by the Infusion Nurses Society (2025). In general, standardised protocols do not take this challenging part of infusion therapy into account, and complications impact the quality of life for patients and treatment continuity in different disease processes (Van Laar et al., 2023). The data and evidence clearly show that there is a need to introduce a structured assessment protocol for a proper INF