Do you start your own IVs?

[FireStarterRN, BSN, RN]

Do you start IVs where you work? I'm doing a travel contract at a hospital that has IV therapy and most nurses don't start IVs there. I had to start a couple of IVs there other day for other nurses because IV therapy was too busy.

I guess if you work in a place with IV therapy, you just don't start IVs. I'll include a poll with this thread.

[elizabells, BSN, RN]

Yep. Our hospital (major Children's regional) has an IV team, but they Don't Do Babies. At night our nurses sometimes get called to the ER or the floor if there's a baby who the nurses there can't get.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

I start all my own IV's working at the hospital system I am at now. We do have to help each other sometimes, if there is a difficult stick. However I am one that others go to for help. We do have PICC team on days to insert PICCs.

I have also worked where there was IV therapy that also did PICCs, but they were so busy sometimes so I would start my own if I could. We had to be checked off by them to start IV's and hang blood.

I would rather start my own if I can and call them if I need a difficult stick, not for them to do IVs for me all the time.

[iluvivt, BSN, RN]

I am the IV therapist and Start PICCs with Ultrasound

[XB9S, BSN, MSN, EdD, RN, APN]

I am from Mars and we don't have viens :lol2:

Actually, it is fairly rare in the UK for nurses to start thier own IV's it is left for the doctors or Nurse practitioners to do. The exceptions are within some specialist units such as EU, ICU CCU

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

None of the answers fit for me. We start our own IVs, but we also have IV Therapy to start PICCs and difficult PIVs, or if we're slammed and don't have the time.

[UM Review RN, ASN, RN]

We do our own. I usually am the IV go-to person on my unit for my shift. I was surprised to learn how many people I work with who don't like to start IVs. Oh well, more for me then!

[traumahawk99]

heck yeah i start my own. when you're hot, you can toss iv's in from across the hallway.. and when you're not.. :)

[Devil_Duckie, LVN]

I chose the option "we have IV therapy," because we do have an IV team at the hospital. However, we are required to try twice to establish IV access unless they have a history of being a difficult stick (dialysis patients, for example) and only then are we allowed to call the IV team. This is the protocol on night shift, at least, it is slightly different on days.

The IV team also is merging with our former PICC team and does PICC insertions Monday through Friday, day shift only. They also do the dressing changes on the central lines. So, my "vote" was only partially correct, while we do have an IV therapy team, we also have the opportunity to start IV's as we almost always have an new admission, an IV needing rotating, or a confused patient yanking theirs out!

[kharley]

We have an IV therapy team that is wonderful. Our hospital started the IV therapy team as another step in preventing infection. The fewer times a patient is stuck, the fewer sites for infection to enter the body.

There are a few of the IV therapy team that are dedicated to inserting PICC lines, but they are only there during the day and every other weekend.

Usually there's less than a 15 minute wait for a new site, but occasionally they are back-logged and we might have to wait up to an hour (this is on night shift). They are also responsible for central line cap and dressing changes, PICC line dressing changes, as well as attending all codes.

The only downside (for me personally) is that I graduated 2 years ago and except for about 10 IV starts during school clinicals, I've not had an opportunity to start any IVs to develop any IV skills.

[queenjean]

We have IV therapy from 7am until 10pm; so during the night we start our own IVs. During the hours that IV therapy is available, they start the IVs unless there are extenuating circumstances.

[EmmaG, RN]

Do you start IVs where you work? I'm doing a travel contract at a hospital that has IV therapy and most nurses don't start IVs there. I had to start a couple of IVs there other day for other nurses because IV therapy was too busy.

I guess if you work in a place with IV therapy, you just don't start IVs. I'll include a poll with this thread.

When I traveled to hospitals where there were IV teams, I still started my own. Faster, and the IV nurses appreciated the help. (of course, I cleared with them first that it was ok that I do so)