Home Health IVs w/new grad nurse

[djh123]

I'm a middle-aged new grad, looking at job listings, and my immediate thought on a 'Home Infusion RN' listing is that I might not mind doing it, but given one particular experience in clinicals, where I couldn't find ANYTHING on this guy's arm or hand, what do you do in that situation? You're by yourself at their house. To save a bunch of you from responding 'well, you just gut it out and get it done somehow' ... yeah, I understand that, but again, there are some very difficult patients to start or change IV's on. Just wondering if anyone has any special advice there.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

It depends on the patient. I have a patient who is severely developmentally delayed and blind... his parents have to lay on top of him to get him into position to access his port and he still never stops moving. And his port is deep. It's easy to miss on him. Some teenage girls if the ports are underneath their left breast, I'd much rather do a peripheral stick. I do have one patient who has a port-a-cath who I do peripheral sticks on for labs... he doesn't like being accessed when he doesn't have to be and his port is super positional. He's a wicked easy stick so I don't mind. For IV therapy (as opposed to labs) in the home, we only take patients with central lines.