Airglove Clinical Case Study The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre

Airglove Clinical Case Study The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre

Nicky Donnelly, Lead Nurse Specialist Oncology
Annette Charlick, Senior Nurse for Research & Quality Improvement
Karen McDermott, Cancer Clinical Educator Oncology and Haematology – Vascular Access Improvement Introduction

The Beatson West of Scotland Cancer Centre is an internationally renowned cancer centre, the second largest single-site in the UK. The Beatson delivers all of the radiotherapy and much of the chemotherapy to the population of the West of Scotland with a catchment area of 2.5 million people, which is around 60% of Scotland’s population. Each year they see more than 8,500 new patients and 60,000 return patients, delivering more than 25,000 courses of chemotherapy and 6,500 courses of radiotherapy.

Clinical Challenge
The Beatson Cancer Centre provides care for patients undergoing systemic anti-cancer treatment (SACT), where vascular access becomes increasingly difficult over time due to repeated use.

“As patients progress through numerous different treatments, their IV access becomes more difficult and more challenging.”

Prior to Airglove, the primary method for improving venous access was warming the arm using basins of warm water. However, this approach was inconsistent, difficult to control, and often led to delays in treatment.

“It was very variable, very time consuming… and it could be quite distressing for patients… because it wasn’t always a successful way to try and achieve a good vein for cannulation.”

Impact on Patients and Service
Difficult IV access led to repeated cannulation attempts and, in some cases, inability to deliver treatment on the day.

“There was a maximum of 6 attempts if 2 viable arms were available… If that wasn’t achieved… the patient would have to leave the department without receiving their treatment.”

This also had a direct impact on operational efficiency and cost, with some prepared treatments unable to be used.

“Quite often, the patients who have to leave without treatment, their medication would need to be returned to pharmacy to be disposed of without being used. So that’s a huge cost to the service.”

Discovering Airglove
Airglove first arrived for a demonstration as an early prototype in 2014 as part of key hospital prototype feedback and from this Airglove V1 was successfully launched in 2018. An early trial and audit of the Airglove V1 device in May 2019 at the Macmillan Day Case unit was completed with successful cannulation achieved in approximately 83% of patients (1 minute warming). This identified Airglove as a beneficial intervention with patients reporting improved comfort and a positive overall experience.

“The key driver for reviewing Airglove was the opportunity to replace the traditional method of hand immersion in warm water. This presented health and safety and infection prevention control challenges including handling, maintenance and cleaning of equipment. Airglove offered a safer, hygienic and more streamlined approach for patients and staff.”

Introducing Airglove V2
Airglove was introduced as a controlled warming solution designed to improve vein visibility, reduce variability, and support consistent clinical practice.

“It seemed like a novel solution… to help improve the patient experience and the staff experience.”

Training and Adoption
The team received initial training from Airglove educators, but staff found the device intuitive. Key learning points included correct glove positioning, gentle handling of the nozzle, and using multiple warming cycles where needed.

“The huge thing that helped was the simplicity of Airglove. It is a very busy, high pressure clinical area which can make new product introductions a little tricky, but the patient benefits spoke for themselves with the move away from a basin of water when we saw the success with Airglove and how quick it worked.”

Clinical Evaluation
Airglove was evaluated as part of an audit programme focused on reducing extravasation and improving cannulation outcomes, as a holistic Quality Improvement Project (QIP). The data capture for the QIP will form empirical data for our QIP.

“As part of the routine extravasation audit process, additional data collection fields were incorporated following the introduction of Airglove.

These included:
• Whether Airglove was used during cannulation attempt
• The number of cannulation attempts
This enabled comparision of cannulation outcomes and provided objective data regarding contribution of Airglove to successful first-attempt cannulation and overall vascular access quality.”

Results and Benefits
The introduction of Airglove delivered measurable improvements in efficiency, reliability, and patient care.

“Key benefits are the time saving… it allows the patient to be cannulated… within a more reasonable period of time.”

“You only really have to use the Airglove once… it’s more reliable.”

“Additional benefits included:
• Improved patient comfort and experience during cannulation and blood sampling procedures.
• Improved staff efficiency through a quicker standardised warming method.
• Potential reduction in repeated cannulation by improving vein visibilty and accessibity.
• A more portable and practical solution that can be used across all settings.
• Reduction in manual handling and health and safety risks associated with previous warming process.”

Patient Experience
Airglove significantly improved the patient experience by simplifying the process and reducing anxiety.

“It helps make the process more streamlined… a pleasant experience… the team have not come across any patients who don’t like it.”

“Overall it’s been very, very well received.”

Clinical Recommendation
“Yes, 100% would recommend it.”

Airglove is now considered a valuable addition to vascular access practice, supporting both patient safety and service efficiency.

Conclusion
Airglove has enabled The Beatson Cancer Centre to improve cannulation success, reduce delays, and enhance both patient and staff experience within a high-pressure oncology setting.

“The only complaint now… is that we don’t have enough of them.”