A few months ago, I blogged about intraosseous (IO) access – see  IO made easy.   This type of vascular access is experiencing tremendous growth and is beginning to gain acceptance as a true alternative access for infusion therapy. However, I think many nurses are still hesitant to consider IO access as a viable option for patients not in a emergency situation or not a pediatric patient because of its historical use. Perhaps it is difficult for an IV nurse to accept that there are times when he/she can’t start an IV! What?? Not possible, but sometimes it can happen.  Why not consider IO in a situation where a patient is in acute onset severe respiratory distress, and you can’t establish a PIV and a central line takes longer to insert? Many medications given intravenously can be safely given via IO access.

For more information about IO and how nurses can use IO, I would encourage you to read the article I wrote for the 2010 May/June issue of the Journal of Infusion Nursing entitled – Intraosseous Route as Alternative Access for Infusion Therapy. This article gives an overview of IO access indications, care, and management; describes therapies administered via IO access; and discusses the expanding use of IO access into areas within hospitals during nonemergent clinical situations.

And no, this is not about IV vs. IO……