MAY: reasons to celebrate

There’s a lot of reasons to love the month of May. The weather is warmer, flowers begin to burst into bloom and here are a few occasions to celebrate this month. 1. National Nurses Day is May 6 ,a day to honor the 3.1 million registered nurses in the United States. This year’s theme is:…

Celebrate March 19 Certified Nurses Day

A registered nurse (RN) license allows nurses to practice. Certification affirms advanced knowledge, skill, and practice to meet the challenges of modern nursing.Certification is a profession’s official recognition of achievement, expertise, and clinical judgment. It is a mark of excellence that requires continued learning and skill development to maintain. Today is a day to recognize board…

In case you are the IV patient…

I have now confirmed my blog readers are not only healthcare providers but are ‘actual’ patients. I get questions/emails/comments from them and they made it known to me that they are watching and noticing what we do to their venous access!!  LOL.. So in the spirit of sharing and learning, without revealing anything about them,…

R-E-S-P-E-C-T….PIV

Peripheral IV (PIV) placement is one of the common IV procedures performed by nurses (and other healthcare practitioners)  in hospitals and other healthcare settings, including long-term care, outpatient, and home care.  Perhaps because of its simplicity, many nurses have underestimated the risks involved with PIV placement, care and maintenance. I often hear them say, “it’s just a…

Nurses and Off Label Drug Use

At a recent meeting,  I was asked by an RN what her liability is if she administered an approved intravenous drug for an non-labeled indication prescribed by a physician to her patient and does she have the right to refuse to give the treatment even with the patient consent? A very interesting question and one that…

IV policies and procedures..

..many facilities/organizations have them, some don’t. Many nurses know what their IV policies and procedures are, others don’t have a clue or don’t even know they should have one. Others say…yeah, we do have them  but here’s what we do! Borrowed from a previous post- “Terms of Confusion” about  Policies and Procedures: Policies are the established rules…

How frequent should you check PIV sites?

In the past, we have routinely replaced peripheral IV catheters every 48-72hours. Since INS 2011 Standard for Infusion Nursing revised it to site rotation based on clinical indications, PIV site assessment is even more important now. So how frequent should you assess the patient’s peripheral IV site? According to the latest Position Paper from the Infusion…

May 6 – Happy Nurses Day!

Today, we celebrate National Nurses Day to honor the 3.1 million registered nurses in the United States. According to the American Nurses Association: There are 2.6 million licensed registered nurses employed in nursing 62.2% of  employed RNs work in hospitals The average age of employed RNs is 45.5 years 45% of RNs are age 50…

April 28 – National Take Back Day

The Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) has scheduled another National Prescription Drug Take-Back Day which will take place on Saturday, April 28, 2012, from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m.  This is a great opportunity for those who missed the previous 3 events, or who have subsequently accumulated unwanted, unused prescription drugs, to safely dispose of those…