[The evaluation of unnecessary venous access ports in an emergency service]. / Evaluación de las vías de acceso venoso innecesarias en un servicio de urgencias.

BACKGROUND: To determine the incidence of unnecessary cannulations of peripheral veins in an emergency department (ED). METHODS: We retrospectively analyzed a sample of 1,113 patients from a total of 24,637 who were attended at ED. We reviewed the cannulations of peripheral veins and if they was used or not. RESULTS: In 202 (18.5%) cases, venous access was obtained. In 84 (41.6%) the venous access was not used. CONCLUSION: The unnecessary use of venous cannulations is a common practice and generates a substantial added cost of poor quality.