Over the last two decades, studies about phlebitis have divided the risk  factors into four main groups: patient characteristics, therapy administered, health  professional practices and cannula characteristics. This study is aimed to identify the  associated risk factors attributing to thrombophlebitis in our hospital. All adult patients  admitted in Medicine wards and requiring intravenous cannulation over a period of one  year were included in this observational study conducted in the Department of Medicine,  Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), Shimla, Himachal Pradesh. For quantitative  variables, means and standard deviations were calculated. Chi square test was applied to  determine the association between the use of different drugs and the occurrence of  thrombophlebitis. A p-value of less than 0.05 was considered to be statistically  significant. Based on our findings, we believe that if certain variables influencing the risk  of phlebitis (especially diabetes mellitus, infectious diseases and gender) are taken into  consideration, the rate of phlebitis can be reduced in high risk groups by: shortening the  intervals between catheter replacements, better supervision during insertion and  maintenance of catheters, use of milder irritant intravenous drugs, especially with respect  to antibiotics, and better control of underlying diseases.