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The Art of the IV Start - December 2014 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

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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4 9 D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 4 | O U T P AT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E A nybody can start an IV in a spongy, lead-pencil vein. But here comes Ms. Difficult Stick with her small, rolling, spider veins. You can flick and tap her fragile, flat veins all you want to coax them out of hiding, but they're down and they're staying down. She's dehydrated, elderly and obese. Oh, and she's absolutely terrified of needles. "Nobody appreciates getting a needle put into their body," says Debbie Rich, RN, BSN, MM, the infection control practitioner at Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in Boston, Mass. "The IV stick can be very traumatic." Years ago, before the advent of products and techniques that lessen the pain and increase the success rate of your IV starts, you might have had to postpone or cancel Ms. Difficult Stick's case. Or make the call to anesthesia for help after a couple of failed attempts. As Barbara Reiheld, BSC, BC-NE, the outpatient surgery manager at Robinson Memorial Hospital in Ravenna, Ohio, says, "If you miss 2, you lose your confidence — and so does the patient." Today's good news is that you have several places to turn for help with difficult IV starts. For easier inser- tion, you can use smaller-gauge nee- dles and catheters, preferred by two- thirds (66%) of the 138 facility leaders who took our "Challenging IV Start" survey last month. A few respondents favor catheters that have a clear sheath, which makes it easier to see a blood return. "And they seem to be a V E N I P U N C T U R E A COMMON PROBLEM Patients at my facility complain about painful IV starts _______ . frequently 8% sometimes 41% rarely 46% never 4% SOURCE: Outpatient Surgery Magazine Reader Survey, November 2014, n=138

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