Newbie Question about "Blown Veins"

Melissa, are you saying that you have better luck if you advance a little further after flashback? If so, then that is absolutely what is minimizing your chances of blowing that IV. The reason is because when you initially see flashback it doesn't mean that the entire tip of the angiocath needle has entered the vein yet. You have to advance it a touch further so that the entire tip/bevel is inside the vein. Otherwise, when you advance the catheter itself - it does not have enough needle in the vein to guide it in. SG

I forgot to add that on my sweet little fragile elderly people sometimes it blows with a tourniquet but seems to be better to not use a tourniquet at all.

melissa

A bp cuff instead of torniquet seems to work better for fragile veins, but I have never understood why