..…if patients offer their antecubital fossa to you for an IV start. Sad but true, many patients do not understand the difference between blood draw and starting a peripheral IV. We, as registered nurses should understand the difference and know that starting an IV in the antecubital fossa is not good practice. The antecubital fossa…
This is a follow-up to my previous post “When an infusion nurse gets an IV”. Many have asked about what “phlebitis grade 2” meant. Phlebitis is defined as the inflammation of the vein and is considered an adverse patient outcome. The Infusion Nurses Society’s infusion nursing standards of practice (2006) provides a uniform standard scale…
It is not easy when a nurse is on the receiving end as the patient. Today I had an IV started in my right forearm for an outpatient procedure. Nothing serious, just a screening procedure highly recommended when one reaches a certain birth number. I was a bit anxious but when the pre-op nurse started…
A nurse colleague on twitter asked me for tips on starting IV’s in pudgy toddlers. This tweet was followed by another, stating “I have trouble with pudgy at any age”. Yes, I agree. Even to the most experience infusion nurse, pudgy is always a challenge and usually means no chance of finding veins or easy…
Infusion Nurse Blog 