If “Santa Claus” was an infusion patient…

1. It would be very difficult to get an accurate patient information. Imagine this.. Nurse: Please tell me your name? Patient: “St. Nicholas” but you call me“Santa Claus“. I am also called Father Christmas, Kris Kringle, and many other different names depending on the language. “HO! HO! HO!” Nurse: Hmm, ok, …now I will need…

FAQ: Are you a new nurse?

…is a frequently asked question I get from patients who come for infusions on a regular basis and haven’t seen me before. I don’t blame the patients, to them I am not a familiar face since I was not there during their last treatment or previous times they have come for their infusions. So they…

You want “what” given IV?

In the years I have been an infusion nurse, none of my patients would volunteer to have an “IV access” started for any reason unless prescribed for the treatment their illness or to save their lives. It seems that a lot of consumers, not necessarily “patients” in the traditional definition, are seeking unconventional IV treatments.…

Poll results: Bevel up or Bevel down when inserting IVs

A week ago, I posted a poll on my blog about inserting a peripheral IV catheter, bevel up or bevel down. Here’s the result as of 11.23.2010. The poll showed, inserting bevel up is the technique used by 92.11% of the blog readers who took the poll. It is also the common practice and the…

Bevel up or Bevel down?

A week ago, a colleague @nerdymedic posted this question posted this on Twitter. “Can you shed some light on the “bevel down” technique that some profess for peds?” It was an interesting question, to which I replied: Bevel down vs. bevel up when inserting IV catheters. I have always inserted peripheral IV catheters bevel up…