IV Therapy Precept

What is an "IV therapy" floor? Never heard if such a thing. Are you in the US?

Yes. So far from my understanding it's where picc and caths are done, also chemo and outpatient antibiotics.

So is it an ambulatory infusion center?

And on a second note, your ability to get a job will not really be adversely affected by this because school/clinicals do not count as experience and should not be listed on your resume as such.

So you'll be on a unit where you'll be able to observe PICC line insertions as well as PICC care including dressing changes, flushes and trouble shooting. In addition you will be caring for patients that have SCAPs so there is a good chance you will learn how to access and care for them. Then there will be all of the PIV experience you will get including insertion, monitoring and trouble shooting. Very likely there will be venipunctures for additional lab work. Then you will be able to observe chemo initiation and monitor patients while it is infusing while attending to their needs including PO and IV med administration. You will get to hang antibiotics and probably blood as well. You will be assessing your patients general status and for infusion reactions and probably will get to see what happens to a neutropenic patient with a fever. You will vital, weigh and learn to do a focused assessment on complicated patients. Probably change a dressing or two. Possibly deal with a code brown. You will experience talking to patients and their families who are going through one of the biggest challenges they will ever face. You might experience your first patient loss. You will learn about normal/abnormal lab values related to certain disease processes ( ie a hemoglobin of 8 in a cancer patient is often cause for great celebration). Depending on the size of your hospital you may be participating in the care of a research patient so you'll have an opportunity to learn about research nursing. And the best part? At the end of the day these folks go home!

Do you get my drift?

Yes I do thank you. It is a small hospital in a tiny town so I'm not sure about research drugs. Thank you for an idea of what it's about.

There is a lot of assessment that goes into infusion nursing, in my experience. My RN infusion experience is primarily in home infusions, and mostly IVIG, but I also teach people about self-infusion through PICC lines, infuse through ports (including accessing and de-accessing), do IV abx, hydration, and other infusions and IVP meds. Being able to confidently stick a neutropenic patient on chemo with absolutely trashed veins in SOO invaluable when you get out in the world of nursing. My birth center LOOOOVES my infusion experience, and I get called in from time to time when no one else can get a stick.

Take the time to learn about the lab work and the order of draw (more important than most nurses know).

You'll find there are opportunities to learn, if you take initiative. :)