IV insertion and travel nursing!

[SunshineFLgirl]

Hello everyone!

After 8 years of being a nurse, I have finally decided to be a travel nurse and currently in a process of talking to a recruiter to find a good first travel assignment. 

I feel like I am a good nurse, work hard, adapt quickly and get along with everyone.

My biggest fear is... IV insertion!

my school never taught us how to insert IVs (BSN program) and all 5 hospitals I have ever worked had IV teams and they almost discouraged nurses to put our own IVs. 

in short, I have never inserted an IV before! I want to practice at my current hospital but they always want us to call the IV team so I don't even get a chance. I talked to my educator about shadowing an IV nurse for a day but due to COVID, they don't allow that either.

I don't want to start working as a travel nurse, not knowing how to put IVs in and look "incompetent" as a travel nurse.

I know it's really silly to worry about it but I don't want to turn down a good offer just because the hospital doesn't have an IV team. and how do I even know they have an IV team before I talk to the hiring manager?

Maybe I am just being crazy.. anyone with a similar experience or a good advice?

please help ?

[NedRN]

What is your specialty?

Starting IVs is just one of hundreds of skills. It should be listed on the skills checklist you will fill out for your agency. It will be sent to hospitals as part of your profile. It is possible that they will rule you out and not even interview you on that basis. During the interview, you can identify it as a weakness if you wish (style dependent), but at least point it out to your manager and ask about IV teams.

It is not really a huge deal except in your head. For one, you may find that the hospitals you are interested in have IV teams. Second, pretty likely where hospitals depend on staff (including travelers) to start IVs that they will precept you for that skill. Usual practice is after a couple failed sticks on a patient, a new caregiver is enlisted simply to make the patient feel better. So even if a relatively quick orientation doesn't give you the expertise of a nurse who has done perhaps hundreds of IV starts, you still will survive.

[msesay91, BSN]

It's not the end of the world. Just practice it wherever you go. Worst thing a nurse can do is simply not try.. You can attempt and if you don't get it let someone know so you can get help.

[Epidural, BSN, RN]

The best IV starting advice I ever got is: You Tube-"ABCs of Anesthesia" channel. Watch his "difficult IV start" videos, and then follow his advice. You will be amazed how easy starting IVs actually is.

[Bluepen]

I struggled with IVs all year. I took the online course "The IV guy" in Nov and offer to get IVs for my coworkers to practice. Now I am hitting most on the first try. I even got an IV for a travel nurse the other day. It is a good class and it has a facebook group for questions.