Does your facility have a dedicated I.V. team?

Mine does, although I am not sure I wholly agree with it as it de-skills the other qualified nurses...

The hospital I am currently traveling at has an IV team....I do not think they even want the staff nurses trying for IV's and lab comes and draws all the labs as well......I kinda miss blood draws.

We used to years back - way before I started working there. We don't anymore; we start our own IVs (mother/baby). If we're having a hard time, we get the house supe to try, then anesthesia.

I don't mind starting IVs; actually, I feel more comfortable with it now than I did before. If we have a baby that needs an IV, our NICU starts that.

Our small hospital does not. If we can not get the IV in, we call house supervisor or one of the ICU nurses.

I totally agree.

Did away with it over 15 years ago. My first job had one and it was nice.

Yes, our hospital has a dedicated IV team. They start all IV's (except sometimes in the ER - but there is a person assigned to that area). They also are allowed to DC most picc lines. They are the only ones allowed to change the dressings on the picc lines and central lines. Almost always they are johnny on the spot, however, there are times they are not and we have to repeatedly page them.

Hope this helps.

Lucy, LPN

We have 1-2 nurses on the day shift, 1 on evenings, and maybe 1 on nights. If there's no one for the night shift, the crisis nurse does it. As geropsych is considered low priority, we sometimes have to wait a couple hours for someone to come. I had wanted to learn, but was told not to bother as only the IV nurses are allowed, although I think ED is allowed to start their own.

There is an IV team - with really cool toys! I watched them (unfortunately struggle to) place a peripherial IV on a slightly dehyrated LOL using an ultrasound to visualize veins.
The Homecare company I had a preceptorship with also had a dedicated IV team.