A patient recently told me that she has bad veins and expect to be stuck numerous times for a peripheral IV insertion. I asked her how many times did the nurses stick her before they got an peripheral IV ? She replied: Oh, “it depends on the nurse but they keep sticking me till they get…
At the end of January, the snail mail delivered the eagerly awaited 2016 Infusion Therapy Standards of Practice in my mailbox!! Finally… I must admit, I don’t have all the 2011 Standards of Practice (SOP) memorized – (shocking, I know) so I just had to pull my old copy out to compare and contrast. First thing…
Q: I was always told back when I was a nursing student, that if you’ve just removed the flip cap from a vial, the vial rubber port is sterile and does not need to be disinfected prior to access. So I just insert the syringe to withdraw the medication. For vials already opened, I do…
Happy New Year to all! Now that the holidays are over, it’s time once again to look at the most read posts in 2015. Here are the top ten. 1. “Is there a difference? Osmolarity vs. Osmolality” – These terms have always been confusing. In infusion therapy, particularly with Fluids and Electrolytes and IV solutions, these two terms certainly…
A: The goal when selecting the proper gauge of an peripheral IV catheter is to ensure that the best device meets the patient’s needs. This means taking into consideration many factors such as: Prescribed therapy/type of solution Duration of treatment Peripheral vein availability/vein integrity Diagnosis /Age Known complications of the device The Infusion Nurses Society standards of practice…
Why is it that patients, as well as others who work in our industry, even doctors and nurses, think that infusion nurses do the same job as phlebotomists? Is it because both do venipunctures? Such sterotype and it’s time to stop thinking they are even remotely similar. 1. An infusion nurse (aka IV nurse) is not…
Lately I’ve seen increasing news about IVtherapy services on several social media sites like Twitter and Facebook. Look it up using the hashtag #ivtherapy. You might be surprised to find many celebrities, athletes, models, general public and advertisements talking about getting IVtherapy, not because they are ill but for “out of the box” reasons like,…
I came across a very unfortunate incident while reading a pharmacy colleague Jerry Fahrni’s (@jfahrni) blog post: ” CSP error results in death of a patient” The post was about a medication error at a hospital in Oregon. According to news reports, a woman arrived for treatment in the emergency department (ED) following brain surgery that…
Q: Can a nurse ever draw blood from a PIV after it has been in situ? Or should that only be done at the time of insertion? A: Yes, a nurse can draw blood from an existing peripheral IV and at the time of insertion. But as simple as it sounds, there are several factors…
Happy New Year and hope everyone is having a great start to 2015! 2014 was a great and challenging year not only for this blog but for healthcare in general. In 2014, this blog turned five years old and I was very happy to have passed another milestone. Through this blog, I have met so…
