angiocath versus butterfly

homehealth · Jun 26, 2005

What is easier for starting IVs: angiocath or butterfly? Thanks in advance!

I am a home health nurse. Since we do a lot of home IV therapy we have to make sure we have a good IV. We use abbocaths for all IVs. Using a butterfly for IVs makes it easier to lose the IV because it is a needle not a flexible abbocath. We used to use butterflies in neonates and pediatric patients but went exclusively to catheters. We use butterflies to draw blood and that works well. My husband had his blood drawn recently and they told him they don't use butterflies any more because they are too expensive. Hope this helps

homehealth

BETSRN · Jun 27, 2005

What is easier for starting IVs: angiocath or butterfly? Thanks in advance!

A butterfly is NOT the same as an angiocath. One does not use a butterfly to start an IV. They are for drawing bloods on little veins, only.

Katnip, RN · Jun 27, 2005

That is correct. An angiocath leaves a catheter behind. A butterfly is a needle. You can't leave a needle in a patient these days.

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jun 27, 2005

Butterflies used to be called scalp needles for babies.It's easy as pie to use one. BUT Due to the potential for a needle stick butterflies are passe'. It's a lot easier to stick with something inflexible, but not safe for you or the patient.

Safer and more durable are the flexible jelco, angiocath etc that have a straight sharp introducer needle but leave only the cath when the needle is withdrawn.

actioncat · Jun 27, 2005

umm... I did not mean a butterfly collection set. I meant an angiocath that had butterfly wings on it as opposed to the standard IV set.

I know that a needle cannot be left in a person.

Spacklehead, MSN, NP · Jun 27, 2005

umm... I did not mean a butterfly collection set. I meant an angiocath that had butterfly wings on it as opposed to the standard IV set.
I know that a needle cannot be left in a person.

Actioncat,

I have seen the butterfly angios you are referring to. One of the EMS squads uses them religiously. I personally have never used them but one of the nurses I work with said that her old ER used them all the time and they were very easy to insert. Wish I could relate firsthand experience to you!

lifesaverwv · Jun 27, 2005

In the hospital where I work we have a choice between 3 methods. The 1st is the typical angiocath that we are all familiar with. The next choice is a butterfly needle that is usually a small calaber needle to use on babies & older pts with spider veins. Now we come to the 3rd choice which is my favorite. This device is called an Intima. These are wonderful. They come in various sizes that can be small, like a 22 g. intima, or they also come in sizes up to 18g & beyond. They thread in similarly as a butterfly, after you advance the needle in, you can then pull out the metal introducer which then just leaves a flexible piece of plastic in the pts vein. another great thing about them is that they have 2 lumens. Both can be hep-locked to use occ. or you could run fluids through 1 port & give push drugs for the other port.

The more that I use the intimas the better I like them. I'm not sure what company makes them but if anyone is interested I can get the info about what company makes them.

dawngloves, BSN, RN · Jun 27, 2005

I came in to see a pt after start of shift to find someone had used a butterfly in him for access. As I went to remove it he flailed and I got stuck. I was 2 months pregnant at the time and none to happy. All turned out fine, but I am still bitter about it.

That said, I have used both winged and non winged angios on all sizes of pts and prefer winged. Easier to stabalize when taping in place.

mommatrauma, RN · Jun 27, 2005

I like my angiocaths...and we call our "butterfly" infusion sets, butterflies as well, they are IMO easier to pull out as there is more to catch onto something and dislodge where an angiocath is less to try secure. In my 10 years as a nurse, I've used the butterfly inf set one time on a 15 day old with a fever...otherwise everyone got an angicath

lionkore · Jun 27, 2005

Here, we use either Intimas as previously described, or Introcans, which are basically the needle and cathlon, no extension tubing or anything. Usually, if it's just a routine stick, I like the Intimas very well. But in an emergency, when I need to get something in my patient NOW, it's easier for me to just whip the Introcan in there. We stock both on a regular basis.

peace,

Kori

beausud · Jun 27, 2005

What is easier for starting IVs: angiocath or butterfly? Thanks in advance!

hello, personally i prefer to use the "butterfly" cath style for IV starts; i find that w/ the shorter cath, i have better control. the tricky part for me is when i have to pull out the "stylet" (needle), gotta make sure i dont pull out the cath thats already in the vein. the 1st time i ran across this type was in sacramento. i guess whatever works for you... im assuming most people use the "traditional" style angio cath.