Color Coded IV Needle Gauges

jnrsmommy · Mar 19, 2009

The colors/gauges I've come across:

16g - Gray

18g - Green

20g - Pink

22g - Blue

24g - Yellow

donein2010 · Mar 19, 2009

thanks so much. i thought it was 20g

truern · Mar 20, 2009

The colors/gauges I've come across:
16g - Gray
18g - Green
20g - Pink
22g - Blue
24g - Yellow

We don't use 16g or 24g, but I remember the others by thinking I'd turn green if somebody came at me with an 18g, twenty TWO rhymes with blue, and pink is just the other one LOL

When my husband has triple bypass sx the anesthesiologist put in two 14g IVs. I almost died!! They looked like garden hoses!!

donein2010 · Mar 20, 2009

good ways to remember... we only use green blue and pink but i am still get used to the iv stuff. this is our first semester doing IV therapy.

garden hoses....OUCH.

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 20, 2009

the colors are not universal! 20 gauge jelcos are pink; 20 gauge bd insytes are green. some manufacturers use different color codes. you can always call central supply and ask them what they are stocking and what the color codes of the needles are. this is also a good lesson. people should always document the size needles they insert in a patient and it should always be marked on the patient's dressing.

truern · Mar 20, 2009

daytonite said:
the colors are not universal! 20 gauge jelcos are pink; 20 gauge bd insytes are green. some manufacturers use different color codes. you can always call central supply and ask them what they are stocking and what the color codes of the needles are. this is also a good lesson. people should always document the size needles they insert in a patient and it should always be marked on the patient's dressing.

i happen to have in my hand a bd insyte autoguard 20ga 1.16in shielded iv catheter and it's definately pink. guess i should check my pockets better before heading home ?

Daytonite, BSN, RN · Mar 20, 2009

You're right. My bad. I have been out of practice for a few years. Guess they changed the hub colors in that time.

flightnurse2b, LPN · Mar 20, 2009

truern said:
i happen to have in my hand a bd insyte autoguard 20ga 1.16in shielded iv catheter and it's definately pink. guess i should check my pockets better before heading home ?

i am so guilty of this, things go in the pockets and don't usually come out.

i'm packing and cleaning to get ready to move, and i have seriously found a ton of iv catheters, rolls of tape, tourniquets, surg site markers, alcohol swabs, saline flushes, j-loops.....

i think i might be a packrat.

ERjodiRN · Mar 20, 2009

26=purple. i've only ever seen one, and only ever used one....and it was in an 'imminent birth' situation where they were having trouble accessing the umbilical central line.

schroeders_piano, RN · Mar 20, 2009

daytonite said:
the colors are not universal! 20 gauge jelcos are pink; 20 gauge bd insytes are green. some manufacturers use different color codes. .

actually iv colors are universal (at least in the us) they changed them to universal colors a several years ago. however, i have worked in hospitals where i pulled out some iv caths that were older than i am, so there still some of the old pre-universal caths lying around.

Two Sheds · Feb 11, 2010

Here's a cool little ryme we came up with to remember. I sometimes have a bad habit of taking something simple and describing it in a way that is WAAAY more difficult than it really is, so please bear with me, LOL!

Think about the earth from the dirt all the way up to the sun, in order:

The dirt is gray (16)

The grass is green (18)

The flowers are pink (20)

The sky is blue (22)

The sun is yellow (24)

See how everything goes from the ground up? Maybe I've confused y'all even worse, but in my convoluted mind, it seemed to click for me. :-) Hope this helps some of you!

~~Elizabeth