IV Insertion in School?

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Hi! I was recently told by an instructor of mine that we will not learn to place an IV during school, but rather it will be on the job training once we graduate and get hired. Now, I have no idea if this is standard or not, hence my question. I was just wondering if you learned how to put in IV in school or once you got your first job? Thanks in advance!

Specializes in Emergency.

IV insertion was not taught in my nursing school during clinicals, we did however learn how to calculate and draw up IV meds in the skills lab along with priming fluids and setting up piggybacks drips, etc... IV insertion was a skill learned and mastered on the job.. One that I am still developing haha

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Specializes in clinic, ortho/neuro, trauma, college.

I learned on the job, which is a hoot when you're looking at someone in the hospital bed and they're looking back and forth between you and your preceptor wondering what they've signed up for. You'll find some people who refuse to have you "practice" on them, and some are more willing participants. One guy looked at me, said "You've never done this before?", pulled his arm back and said "Uh uh."

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Specializes in Neuro ICU and Med Surg.

IV placement was total on the job training for me.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

That would be my response! My confidence level would not be high as a patient if I knew that my nurse had never done an IV before she got to my arm!

I learned on the job, which is a hoot when you're looking at someone in the hospital bed and they're looking back and forth between you and your preceptor wondering what they've signed up for. You'll find some people who refuse to have you "practice" on them, and some are more willing participants. One guy looked at me, said "You've never done this before?", pulled his arm back and said "Uh uh."
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Specializes in Post-surgical, Respiratory.

I did my LPN training thru the Army. They had us sticking each other with at least 3 IVs a day every day for 4 months while in the medic phase before we moved on to the LPN phase.

Once in LPN school, we practiced on each other because it was less of a hassle than the mannequins that were available. One of our clinical rotations had is on the phlebotomy lab a couple days. While in clinicals, it was up to the discretion of the nurse we were shadowing to let us do it or not.

I had extensive IV training before testing for my license, but my circumstances were not typical for civilians.

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I wasn't allowed during school either. We did get to practice on mechanical arms. Had to learn on the job and it is way different on a real person. I will say, once you get a few under your belt it gets easier. But remember, drawing blood or placing an IV is not your biggest worry, it will come it time (Thanks to Bobby for telling me that) Even seasoned nurses aren't always successful either and need to ask for help.

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Specializes in ER, Med-surg.

We didn't even cover it in skills lab. The rationale (I asked because I was surprised as well) was that because there are so few opportunities to do it in clinical, most of us would never even get to practice once before graduation, and that spending time on it in lab when we wouldn't use the skills again for months or years was a waste of limited time and resources.

Some of the students I see in the ED are checked off and allowed to start IVs on patients, others have never learned.

Either way, I agree that it's a skill that practicing once or twice in clinical or lab won't get you very far on, so I don't think it's crazy to leave it for on-the-job training. I didn't become a truly proficient stick until I moved from the floor, where I might start one or two IVs a week, to the ED, where I was starting them every day. It's a physical skill as much as anything, and without regular practice most people can't achieve/maintain competency.

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We never even covered it. Very similar to what OP said, we were told that we would be trained on the job. I think it may have something to do with the location of the school...I went to nursing school in the northeast but then moved to NC for my first job. No school around us that we knew of did IV training, but when I got down here my coworkers could not believe I hadn't done it in school. Thankfully I started in the NICU so my preceptor expected to teach me how to specifically start IVs on babies, but she was taken aback that I had never stuck a person before...hadn't even stuck a fake arm.

Never thought it may have to do with school location! I also go to school in the northeast. Like you, we don't learn anything about inserting IVs, not even on fake arms.

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

I learned on a fake arm in school and I probably placed 1 real IV while in clinical. All of my IV skills came from on the job training.

You also do not place as many IVs in inpatient as you do in other areas, like the ER, where we start IVs all of the time. Typically in inpatient IVs are kept in place for 72hrs (though I think now it's 96hrs?) providing there is no edema/erythema/other complications. Patients I had in clinical always had lines in place that didn't need replacing at the time.

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I think the dummie arms are used to tech the process of IV insertion but not necessarily to make it realistic or the way I'd be on a real patient. It feels much much different but at school they want you to know how to prepare the materials (right size needle, chlor prep, gauze, tegaderm, saline flush, j tube etc.) And to connect everything together and make it look all pretty a day proper.

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