No IVs in my Nursing School, opinions please?

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Hi,

I just found out that we as students will not be starting IV's and that this is an advanced skill that will be acquired after I graduate.

I've read other posts were students are starting IV's so I am wondering is it just because my hospital has their own IV team, or is it a "sucky" nursing school?

I kind of feel dissappointed. I had assumed that this would be a very basic Nursing skill I would learn.

Any one care to comment? Is this the norm? :(

I can't imagine being able to start IVs successfully without at least some decent training. It's not an intuitive skill.

you're right. It's not an intuitive skill. It's a mechanical skill. That's why you can learn it in 20 minutes.

let's not make things harder than they really are.

Specializes in Med/Surg.

Some states do not permit you to start IVs until you have your license. This could be part of why some get to start them in school and some do not. I started 1 in school thats it until my final semester and I did my preceptorship in the ER. Then I started lots of them. It is definately a skill that takes lots of practice and I believe personally if you do not use it all the time you lose it. I have not started any since the week of July 4th until last week. I tried twice to stick a pt and both times missed it. I was quite good at starting them when I worked the ER all week one on one with a preceptor. Good luck to yall. :nuke:

Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

We learn how to start IVs in our 3 semester of my BSN program.

Specializes in Neuro.

We're allowed to do IVs but are NOT allowed to practice on each other. Though I hear one of the clinical groups in my class got bored last week, went into an empty room and gave each other IVs. The instructor came in to see where his class went, and then turned around and walked out, saying "I don't see anything..."

The only person in my class (aside from those guys) who's had a chance to start IVs has done 2 of them this quarter, but she's also been a paramedic and so already knows how to do them. Personally I think she should let some of us who don't already know how practice when an opportunity arises rather than taking it herself, but that's a whole other can of worms.

Specializes in PICU, ICU, Transplant, Trauma, Surgical.

We have in our syllabus that will be learning IV insertion in Skills Lab (this is the clinical day we go to our nursing lab and are instructed on nursing skills) and this is not until the last 2 or 3 weeks of the semester.

Our clinical instructor told us that if the nurse we have in our clinicals is willing to demonstrate and if we feel comfortable after demonstrations to attempt IV insertion we can.

Personally, I will wait on this until we get taught how to do IVs in skills lab.

Also, I must say I would be pretty pissed if IV insertion wasn't part of the ciriculum, at all. They seriously said you are going to learn it after graduation? Are you being taught about IV meds or anything? How odd.

Specializes in Renal.

Wow.. That is so weird. IVs were one of the first skills we learned in NS (I am a first semester BSN student). In clinical, I have already started 3 IVs. They're fun and I like to do them! I know, Im a nerd.

We had to be checked off on that skill our first semester and in the first 8 weeks of my second semester I was doing IV's in pre-op.

I'm happy im getting to do it, but it sounds like many don't, so it shouldn't hinder you at all.

We started IV's in second semester by practicing on each other and have been doing them ever since. You had to get signed off on at least two successful IV's back in 2nd semester then and, in order to go to preceptorship in 4th semester, you have to do at least three successful IV's. If you've worked as an extern you can also do as many sticks as you like, as long as you've been signed off on it at school.

Personally, I'm really glad for the experience because there's a lot of patients who's vasculature is shot and they are really hard to stick. I might not always get the really hard sticks, and may still need some help with those but, I wouldn't want to try to learn IV's from scratch on the floor as a new grad.

:typing

relax. It's not that hard to start IV's.

This just isn't true. I suppose this is possible if the patient is an easy stick. But a lot of patients are not easy sticks because their vasculature is shot.

I've seen nurses have to resort to putting IV's the feet (which usually is a big no no) because neither the paramedics nor the ER nurses could get an IV any other way ... and the patient was coding.

I've also seen up to five experienced RN's fail to get sticks on some patients, and they had to call in ICU and nurses from other departments to try to get it.

IV's are easy when the vein is right there to see and palpate but ... that's often not the case with many patients in the hospital.

This is why, IMHO, it's really important to get at least some IV skills practice in nursing school.

:typing

Specializes in Med/Surg.
I too was told that starting IVs is an advanced practice skill to learn after graduation. However, many students in my program attended a weekend IV therapy course at a local community college. The course was meant for nurses, but as students we could take it as an extra. And, because the course was recognized by the hospital we do our clinicals at, we are allowed to start IVs there (supervised of course). Some of the students who planned to go into non-clinical settings (ie. public health) didn't take the extra course, aren't practicing the IVs starts in hospital, and it isn't a mark against them or anything.

My understanding is most schools don't cover IV starts, and most hospitals expect to teach you after you graduate. I could be wrong. Maybe you can see if the hospital has a course for their new nurses, and if you can take it with them....then do your practice starts on your clinical time?

IV's are"advanaced practice skill to learn after graduation"!!Hummm,wonder who's going to teach you?

I really wish we'd been allowed to learn them in school. I am almost five months into my RN job and haven't ever started one! I have asked to be sent for a day with the SWAT team, the same-day-surgery, and even just to go across the hall to L&D and learn to start them and I just get told 'later' or some other form of blow-off. One of my coworkers says I can practice on her and that she feels we should have them learned as well but I am scared to practice on the same person who is teaching me because then I won't have the extra pair of hands to guide me if I need it.

I learned to draw blood at my former pre-RN job, but we never were taught that in school eiither. Just watched a video and told we'd learn at work.

If you all get the chance to learn IV"s, do it!!

Even if you do learn IV in school, you'd still need to take up an IV course so you can acquire your IV license. Nurses w/o IV licenses aren't allowed to practice IV.

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