Pediatric Medical Line Safety: The Prevalence and Severity of Medical Line Entanglements 1

The purpose of this cross-sectional study was to describe the prevalence and severity of medical line entanglements among pediatric patients (N = 486). Most patients, with ages from birth to 6 years, had at least 1 medical line (n = 444, 91%), and 294 children (60%) had 2 to 11 medical lines. Observed entanglements included lines around body parts (n = 31), lines under the body (n = 71), and lines tangled with other lines (n = 50). One third of the children were at risk for adverse events due to entanglements, and 1 patient actually experienced real harm.