... as a direct result of sepsis or infection. Whilst Chemical theories propose that phlebitis is caused by the irritation of the vein wall by infusion fluids. (Campbell 1998). However, the literature appears to suggest that most cannula-related infections result from the migration of skin organisms at the insertion site, eventually colonizing the cannula tip and entering the blood stream. (Kelsey and Gosling 1984, Fletcher and Bodenham 1999). The complications of the use of peripheral cannulation can therefore, as Horton and Parker (1997 cited in Parker 1999 p1492) indicate, range along a spectrum of symptoms including, most commonly, phlebitis but also extravasation and other localised and systemic infections. According to Pearson (1996 cited in Scales 1997 pS4), the length of time the cannula is in situ is an important factor in the development of sepsis, with the risk increasing the longer the cannula is in place. Pearson's (1996) research findings were used ...

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