What people (colleagues or patients) say to an infusion nurse….
The classic……“Will I be IV certified after I take an on-line IV course”?
The confused….In a doctor’s office, a medical assistant greets me…“Hi, I’m Dr. So and So’s nurse…”
The proud but mis-informed…A nurse after starting a peripheral IV – “I finally got the vein after sticking her 10 times”
The stubborn…“Why can’t I start an IV on the antecubital area, that’s where I draw blood from”
A patient said to me right after I prepped her arm and told her I ‘m ready to stick..“Are you new here? Have you done this before”?
“What do you mean a PICC is a central line”?
“Of course I have IV experience…I draw blood from patients”
” You mean I have to use a new alcohol swab each time?”
A patient stated: “The nurses could never draw blood from my port, but they use it for my chemo.”
A nurse returns to stock an IV tubing previously removed from its protective packaging saying..”Let’s keep it for later use”
“We use a “dial-a-flow” instead of an infusion pump, so we don’t have to infuse by gravity”
Please don’t think I am making fun of anybody. I am not and these are real statements from patients, physician, pharmacy, nursing colleagues and supportive personnel I have met. I am sharing these so we can learn and be better informed. Lots of information out there regarding infusion therapy, vascular access and infusion nursing and some can be confusing. Please remember and I would like to emphasize, there are standards of practice in infusion nursing we need to know and follow from specialty nursing organizations. Just because you didn’t know there are standards, doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply to you. FYI, many of these points have also been addressed in my previous posts on this blog and as always, feel free to ask or post a comment.
Photo from http://www.desktopnexus.com
Infusion Nurse Blog 
We get a lot of similar “Doh!” moments here as well (writing from Australia). I’m a nurse myself and work as a support officer to assist other nurses working in the community.
The point you make of “Just because you didn’t know there are standards, doesn’t mean it doesn’t apply to you” is a constant point of discussion. This often falls under what we call here the nurse’s scope of practice. When nurses come into a community setting from an acute setting they can get a bit disoriented and momentarily belive the “rules are different”.
We also get a lot of nurses thinking that if the doctor shows them how to do something that makes them competent and this is not the case. Thanks for all the information you post on this site. It’s extremely handy!
Maggie