Visual Infusion Phlebitis Assessment Scale: Study of Independent Inter-Observer Compliance

Aim: This study aimed to confirm the reliability of the Turkish version of the Visual Infusion Phlebitis (VIP) ssessment Scale with analysis of agreement between independent observers.

Method: The study was designed as a methodological research. Volunteer nurses working in various wards of a university training and research hospital were trained by researchers to assess phlebitis and use the VIP scale (n=86). Some sample pictures illustrating the various stages of phlebitis, either photographed by the researcher or obtained from the literature, were shown to the nurses. They were asked to stage the case according to the VIP assessment guideline. Interobserver reliability was assessed using the Fleiss’ kappa analysis and intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC). p-value of less than 0.05 was accepted as statistically significant.

Results: Of all the nurses enrolled in the study, 62.8% were women, and the mean age was 28.52±3.98 years. Of the nurses, 66.3% had a bachelor’s degree, and the majority was working as bedside nurses (74.4%) in intensive care, operating room, or emergency room units (44.2%) for 8.24±2.72 years (n=86). The evaluation of parameters related to intravenous applications showed that 96.5% of the nurses did not use any scale to assess phlebitis and that 67.4% did not receive any training for follow-up of the signs and symptoms of phlebitis. The interobserver ICC for the scale had a significantly high value of 0.91 (ICC:0.906, p=0.000). The scale’s content validity index was determined as +1.

Conclusion: ccording to these results, the reliability of VIP scores between independent observers was determined as highy-level and reliability was confirmed. The VIP scale can be used as a convenient assessment tool for follow-up of the signs and symptoms of phlebitis in Turkey.