Outpatient Surgery Magazine - Subscribers

Backbreaker - Outpatient Surgery Magazine - April 2019

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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1 3 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • A P R I L 2 0 1 9 "That's one of the things new nurses will struggle with," says Mr. Lippert. "When I teach, I dwell on keeping the skin tight and waiting until you're completely done advancing the catheter before you let that skin loose." Distract and conquer Dr. Gravenstein prefers to call it "cognitive load," but keeping the patient distracted and focused on anything other than the IV start helps relieve anxiety and pain for the patient. "You create a cognitive burden. You say, 'I want you to tap your left foot,' continue the conversation, then say, 'I want you to tap your right foot.' Force the patient to think about other things so they don't have attention capacity available to where I'm starting the IV," says Dr. Gravenstein. Collecting kudos If you can take steps to reduce the pain and stress associated with IV starts, your patients will definitely appreciate it. And they likely won't be shy about telling you. "Patients will say, 'I didn't even know you were done' or 'Next time I'm in the hospital, can I call and ask for you?'" says Mr. Lippert. "I think if we can take that bit of discomfort away from the patient's visit, that just makes the overall patient interaction that much better." OSM 9 IV Tips & Tricks IV

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