IV Starts

[CBsMommy]

Did any of you practice starting IVs on your fellow students? If not, how did you practice in lab? Just curious. I'm a no good, very bad stick (even the IV team at the hospital couldn't stick me).

[brokenroads27]

we don't practice IV sticks in our school. we are just told we will learn when we're on the floor when we get our first job.

[Maladroit, BSN, RN]

We get our practice in the SIM lab with a dummy.

[That Guy, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

SIM arms for a couple tries, which is great for learning the technique/steps involved and then on each other. I started my first IV on my instructor. I let probably 7 or 8 people start ones on me cause I have great veins.

[RhodyGirl, RN]

We don't learn IV's / blood draws in my program. I've learned and done both in my internship, though.

[singingtothewheat]

We had only lab dummies to stick for the most part. The best thing you can do is request time in the E.R. doing NOTHING but one I.V. stick after another.

[turnforthenurse, MSN, NP]

We didn't practice IV starts on each other

Instead we used mannequin arms. They had a little bag of "fake blood" that you would pump (the pumping thing looks just like the ones on BP cuffs) prior to sticking so that you would get a blood return. We had arms and hands to practice with. Of course, practicing on a mannequin helps to learn the steps, but it doesn't equate to real-world experience. Drawing blood or starting an IV on a real person is different than on a mannequin!