I cant start IV's!

Well if it makes you feel better my first job was in Labor and Delivery and I gotta say I was aweful with the IV's!! I remember calling my long time friend who had been an RN in the PICU for years and telling her I was never gonna be any good at that skill --she tried to give me pointers and told me to just keep at it........well once I got to a med/respiratory floor after trying out med ED for 3 months and hating the staff there--(I tranferred) so the nurses on the floor would say to me---oh you came to us from the ER so you must be good at IVs and would ask me to do their tough sticks-- I jumped on all that extra experience and ended up calling my friend to say --guess what? The nurse that couldn't get in an IV for anything.....now awesome at it and now staff nicknamed me "the IV Queen" for the floor---Me! I never thought I would ever get better and I never gave up and look what happened. I at one point actually applied for an IV nurse job! LOL I am in psych ER now though and never get the chance to do them and I miss it............though I still help the techs out with tough blood draws. Moral of the story don't give up and don't let hearing a patient is a tough stick discourage you. If I got awesome at it anyone can --really!!! (My first preceptor form L&D would laugh at me and ALL my misses! LOL)

One thing that I have found is important in starting IVs is confidence. It is kind of a vicious circle, because when you miss, your confidence goes down, and when your confidence goes down, you are more likely to miss. You have to trick yourself into thinking you are going to get it, because I've found that when I go in with no confidence, I create a self-fulfilling prophecy.

I sucked at starting IV's and I knew it. I started asking all of the nurses on my shift to find me if one of their patients needed an IV, I wanted more experience. They were all fine with that. They stayed near by for if I didn't get it on the second try. I got better really fast doing that. I would not consider myself great at IV's now, I am not the "go to" person, but I would say I get 75% now on the first stick.

Absolutley!!! confidence is KEY!!! Go in telling yourself you will get it. It's funny that you say that cause I always go in with with just what I need, set up and start looking for a vein. When I would go to do one for a nurse who would tell me she needed me to get a tough stick......I would ask if the stuff was in the room, assuming she tried at least once. She would say oh no, you'll need to get it. I just know I can't get him cause he's really heavy......or she's really frail and has tiny spider veins.....or the patient says they are a hard stick.....she wouldnever have even LOOKED at the patients veins and told herself she couldn't do it!!! LOL Then when asked how I got so good I would tell these nurses ....well I never asume I can't get an IV cause of weight, skin color (yeah...I've heard that one too!!! LOL) age, whatever......I go in with my stuff and know I will get it.---that is what I am telling myself and 99% of the time I did. So YES, YES YES Confidence is KEY.....and this goes for blood draws too.....I have told the same thing to techs who have a hard time and ask how I got goo. PRACTICE, CONFIDENCE and PRACTICE!!!!!!

Well, Maybe at this point, you have said you "CAN'T" so much that you have psyched yourself out! Once you get more practice you will probably be AWESOME at it!!!!

My first IV starts were bad. I was like, maybe 15/70. One day it just all sorta clicked and I've only missed 2 in around 50 attempts or so. It just takes practice

I love placing IV catheters! It is very gratifying when you get it. I purposely try the difficult ones, that is the way to get better. Of course, I work with animals, so I really don't know how different it is in humans (I was fascinated in watching my husband get one placed before his surgery, thinking "I want to try that!" LOL). I do wonder if it will be harder, or scare me to place an IV in a person when I am done with school. But I can't wait to try. Like with anything else, you just need to practice. Isn't there IV classes people can take as well??

I hate when pts say "I'm a hard stick, and you can only use butterflys or a baby IV or a 22G or 24G IV or my veins roll, etc". I'd say that 98% of the pts that say that aren't really hard sticks, they just had unexperienced nurses stick them before. There are ways to get veins that seem small pop up better that I've learned. For example, putting 2 tournequets on or putting a tournequet up near the bicep and then one above where you're sticking.

I'm a very confident person when it comes to starting IV's for my own pts or even others. I would even venture to say that on occasion, I am almost cocky about it. Like when another nurse asks me to get a tough stick and I go in there and get an 18G like it was nothing or when my pts say they're a tough stick I'll do the same. Those instances will make you cocky about IV starts. The funny thing is I'm not an overly confident person either, except when I'm at work.

I find that if a pt asks me if I'm good and I say yes I sometimes jinx myself and miss. So usually unless I'm asked by a pt multiple times, I just keep telling myself I'm gonna get it.

Every nurse has their bad days. Some shifts I'll miss every single IV or every vein I blow. It sucks and puts me in a bad mood but it happens.

Like I said before, just practice alot and you'll get your skills.

I just want to mention to people, it's really not necessary to use tourniquets if you can see the vein. You will blow veins with tourniquets. You can always use one temporarily, in order to mark two points on the skin as targets, but really, you have more luck on these old folks without a tourniquet.

Tourniquets help lab people, of course, because they create more pressure, causing the blood to flow for the lab draw. But they will definately contribute to blown veins in the elderly.

Practice, Practice, Practice..... that's the only way you get better! Another thing is - even though it's a trauma center - they're not going to throw you to the wolves on the first day, they'll probably start you out with the less severe cases...don't fret. You'll get it, and no matter how good we all say we are - everyone hits a 'funk' every once in a while. Sometimes you can't even hit a garden hose sized vein. Just keep at it You'll learn to pick good spots away from valves, tricks on how to advance past valves, etc... Just take your time, and the major trick is to make sure that you anchor it down good! Good Luck!