Development, Diagnostic Sensitivity, and Prognostic Accuracy of the Adult-Difficult Venous Catheterization Scale for Emergency Departments.

Introduction: Difficulty in accessing peripheral veins in emergency departments increases patients' discomfort and impedes their diagnosis. The objective of this study was to develop and test the prognostic accuracy of an easily applied scale to measure difficult venous access to peripheral veins in emergency departments, called the Adult-Difficult Venous Catheterization scale.

Methods: This prospective observational study was conducted in adults from the hospital catchment area attending the emergency department.