Is it normal that my school doesn't teach us IVs?

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  1. Is it normal not to learn IVs in nursing school?

    • 55
      Yes
    • 49
      No

104 members have participated

I just started nursing school and I've been told that we're not allowed to do IVs. Is this in all nursing schools or just mine? I'm worried that I won't be prepared when I get my first nursing job.

The problem is that students (and I was guilty of this myself!) think a nurse's job is what they see on tv. Start IVs. Draw blood. Pat hands, change bedpans, give teddy bears. Those things happen, a whole lot, but that's not what being a nurse IS.

Being a nurse is ASSESSING, anticipating problems, intervening before a patient tanks. Interpreting labs, reading radiology, infectious disease and pathology reports, calling the resident and saying "This dude has X, Y, Z. We need to do Q, R, S...NOW!" And realizing her patient's pain isn't being controlled, and getting that addressed - no, not in the morning, immediately!!

Do we start IVs? Yep. Do most of us learn to do that in school? Nope. It's a skill you could teach a monkey, to paraphrase a previous poster. Stop concentrating on the skills. Focus on learning how to prioritize needs: why is this patient here? What do they need before they go home? What is the plan? Will that work for this particular patient? Why not?

I know "they" test you on skills. They have to. But look at your exams. Look at NCLEX prep materials. Are they focused on skills? No, they are focused on assessment, prioritization and, when you get close to the end, delegation. Because that's what you need to know to be a safe, competent nurse. Not how to stick someone with a needle.

A monkey could do that.

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Specializes in ER, Med-surg.

My program did not teach IV starts (they did teach management of IV drips, pumps, etc).

I was surprised at the time, but the rationale given was that there are so few opportunities to start an IV in clinical that most students would get at most one shot, and that a single attempt to place an IV months or years before you start working is not a particularly constructive use of everybody's time.

I learned how to start IVs on animals in a veterinary context before nursing school, but I started in med surg and might have needed to place one IV a week- sometimes less. I honestly didn't become truly competent at IV starts until I had been a nurse for years and transferred to the ER- and I'll still likely never be as good as a medic who starts a dozen a day under hectic field circumstances.

It's fundamentally a motor skill and the only way to get and stay good at it is to do it often, which opportunity most nursing schools cannot give to students. Even the final semester preceptees that come through our department have often only attempted it once, if that, and while I don't mind teaching or supervising their attempts when I have the time, I don't think it's necessarily the most productive use of their limited training time with their preceptor before boards.

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Specializes in BSN, RN-BC, NREMT, EMT-P, TCRN.
If you are equating your placement of an IV catheter to a MONKEY, and saying that you both can place them with equal success, then I have a great fear for your patients. In addition, DO NOT ever come and attempt to place one in me...

Akulahawk is correct in calling IV starts a "monkey skill" because you can teach a monkey to start one. And as he said, it's a psychomotor skill. He's not advocating actually having monkeys start them. You're reading into what he said.

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Specializes in BSN, RN-BC, NREMT, EMT-P, TCRN.

My school: No blood draws taught in lab nor were we allowed to draw blood in the hospital during clinicals. We did start IVs on dummy arms in the lab, then do an actual one in clinicals to get signed off. Nor were we allowed to push IV meds despite other schools allowing it. I guess every program director has his/her idea of what they feel is needed.

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That's funny because we still learn IVs and how to do Foleys. I am based in Middle GA. I also learned blood draws because I am a critical care tech in the ER until I graduate nursing school

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I did not learn IV placement or phlebotomy in nursing school. Most of the nurses I know do not do either of these tasks because I work in an area with large teaching hospitals that typically utilize an IV team. I learned on the job because my particular role requires it. It was not an issue that I did not graduate from school being able to do either.

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If you are equating your placement of an IV catheter to a MONKEY, and saying that you both can place them with equal success, then I have a great fear for your patients. In addition, DO NOT ever come and attempt to place one in me...

so if someone told you to address the elephant in the room, are you looking for an actual elephant? Point being, you are taking something completely literal and out of context. the analogy to a monkey is to drive home the point that it's a rote skill that can be taught...which I think flew completely over your head.

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Specializes in LTC (LPN-RN).

Wow. That is terrible. My LPN program (hospital based) taught in hanging IVs and we had to test out on foly insertion to ensure we knew how to follow sterile technique on the floor. I am guessing the private schools are the ones least likely to teach foleys and IVs. At least after school we can say we have had some experience with them.

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I'm still in my BSN program, but we learned Foley insertion in 1st semester and IVs at the end of 1st semester / beginning of 2nd semester. I'll just say that we were expected to know it once we began clinical rotations.

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Specializes in Vascular Access.
I think you completely missed his/her point and took it weirdly literal...

Nope, didn't miss the point at all.... Many nurses see this as a rudimentary skill, and not something that is specialized.

INS STATES:

"Infusion therapy is one of the most invasive, high-risk procedures Health Care Professionals perform. Because it is such a common procedure,

it is easy to forget the potential for serious patient complications and safety risks to the patient.”

I, nor should anyone, take this procedure or its consequences lightly.

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My BSN program provided our final semester clinical site a list of eight or more, nursing interventions that students were not allowed to do; starting IV access was one of them. I do not remember our instructors ever saying why IV skills were not included in our curriculum. At least now students are being told that they will learn this on the job. I took it upon myself to pay for an IV course to try to remedy this, but actually found the course not very helpful. I soon found out on my first job that IV therapy, unfortunately, was not the only topic left out at school. My lack of exposure to nursing tasks brought about some rather pointed, but true, comments from the experienced nurses about the quality of that program.

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I just started nursing school and I've been told that we're not allowed to do IVs. Is this in all nursing schools or just mine? I'm worried that I won't be prepared when I get my first nursing job.
My ADN program did not. IV pump, yes. IV insertion, no.

Foleys, yes.

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