© 2013 Wichtig Editore - ISSN 1129-7298 J Vasc Access ( 2013; 4):373-378 14 373 ORIGINAL ARTICLE PATIENTS AND METHODS Eighty patients, between the ages of 20 and 80 years, who had undergone elective surgery or needing paren- teral nutrition and infusion therapy were enrolled in this randomized study. Overall, 54 male patients (25 of them belonged to group A and 16 to group B) and 26 female pa- tients (16 of them belonged to group A and 10 to group B) enrolled in this study, with the mean age being 64.64 (66.2 for group A and 63 for group B) years. The study was conducted by the Nursing Anesthesiology Department of the Evgenidion General Hospital and the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, from December 2011 to September 2012. The protocol was approved by the INTRODUCTION Central vascular catheters (CVCs) are commonly used in operating rooms and intensive care units. In the same field, peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) might be an alternative option to standard CVCs, particularly in patients with coagulation disorders or at a high risk for infection (1). We are presenting a study comparing the insertion of CVCs and PICCs by an anesthesia nurse at a Greek University Hospital, while also taking into consid- eration the immediate and long-term results in order to examine the infection rates, infusion complications, pro- cedure complications and acceptance from staff, patients and relatives. DOI: 10.5301/jva.5000160 Central vascular catheters versus peripherally inserted central catheters in nurse anesthesia. A perspective within the Greek health system Evangelos A. Konstantinou 1 , Dimitrios F. Karampinis 2 , Aristotelis P. Mitsos 3 , Maria I. Konstantinou 4 , Theodoros Mariolis-Sapsakos 1 , Maria Kapritsou 5 , Emmanuil Stafylarakis 6 , Theodoros Katsoulas 1 , Ioannis Elefsiniotis 1 1 Faculty of Nursing, National and Kapodistrian University of Athens, Athens - Greece 2 Teleflex Hellas, Athens - Greece 3 401 Army Hospital, Athens - Greece 4 National Documentation Centre, Athens - Greece 5 Hellenic Anticancer Institute ‘’Saint Savvas’’ Hospital, Athens - Greece 6 Queen Elisabeth Hospital, Woolwich - UK ABSTRACT Purpose: We present a study comparing the insertion of central vascular catheter (CVC) and peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC) by an anesthesia nurse at 2 Greek University Hospitals. Methods: Eighty patients, aged 20-80 years, were enrolled in the study. Patients were divided into 2 groups. In group A (41 patients), a CVC was inserted in the internal jugular vein. In group B (39 patients), a pressure-injectable PICC was inserted in the basilica vein. Results: Correlations between the methods applied, the patients’ characteristics, the procedures’ characteristics and the overall satisfaction scores for each procedure were examined. The final results show that the patients of group B (PICC method) were more satisfied with the procedure than the patients of group A (CVC method), at the statistical significance level of a=0.01. Also, according to the results of the analysis, the PICC method offers significantly more comfort and relative satisfaction than the CVC method, at the statistical significance level of a=0.01. The satisfaction scores of “physicians” were statistically more significant, at a=0.01, for the patients of group A (classic CVCs) mainly because of the insufficient flow rate of the PICCs when compared with the CVCs and especially if one considers the fact that the physicians did not have any experience with the PICC method at all. Conclusions: PICCs under ultrasound guidance constitute the solution of choice for patients and they definitely surpass the CVCs focusing mainly on the improvement of the quality of life and the satisfaction of patients. Key words: PICC, CVC, Nurse, Nursing, Satisfaction Accepted: April 13, 2013