Nurses from other units to start IV's

[Daliadreamer]

I'm relatively new to nursing (at least hospital nursing). After moving to a hospital setting in March, I am slowly beginning to be successful at IV starts. At this point this is the only thing that makes me nervous and anxious and my heart drop when I hear that a direct admission is coming in. Some days, which I am sure is common with most people, I can start 4 IV's in a row, no problem. Other days, I can't win with anyone. We do not have an IV team in my place of employment. I work PM's, so I am pretty much on my own. I can never ask my co-workers to start IV's (it's rare) because they usually say no because they are too busy. I always try my best when I start an IV, but I am not going to stick someone more than three times because I think that is mean. If we can't start an IV, we are supposed to call the house supervisor, who will see which unit is able to spare a nurse to do an IV start.

Today, there were three nurses on PMs, and right at 4pm we received 3 direct admissions and one transfer from the ICU, so one of us had to take on two new patients. For the life of me, I could not start the IV, so I called the supervisor, who was in the ICU and said that she would send someone up. Usually the ICU is very busy and the nurse doesn't show up right away, which is very understandable and not an issue. A nurse did show up right away, and I thanked her for coming, and showed her the patient room. I left to continue with my admission orders. The ICU nurse returned about 5 minutes later, pretty much yelled at me because the guy apparently had really big veins and she had a neuro patient in the ICU that she needed to get to. She wanted to know if I had asked anyone else on the unit before I called ICU because she didn't have time to do IV starts like this. The other nurses on my unit were behind me and stated that yes, I did ask them but we had gotten slammed with admissions.

My issue with this is that 1)yes, I am brand new to IV starts and it's already embarrassing for me to call for help; 2)I would have totally understood if the ICU nurse had called and said that she couldn't come up because she was busy with her patient;

3) I thought nurses were supposed to work together?

I was just surprised and embarrassed I guess. The IV start wasn't an emergency, which I let the supervisor know. I know that other units, especially ICU is usually very busy, but the nurse could have called me and told me this (they usually do). I am relatively new to nursing, like I said, and I am just starting to feel helpless.

[Orange Tree]

That's sucky. I have to ask for help with IVs all the time, and I would feel bad if someone yelled at me over it. It sounds like that nurse was just stressed and took it out on you. I would have just thanked her for helping (like you did) and tried to put it out of my mind.

[SummerGarden, BSN, MSN, RN]

some times we cannot win no matter what we do or say to other nurses! for instance, the icu nurse you described sounded overwhelmed, stressed, and angry long before he/she came to your floor. thus, no amount of apologizing or even explanation from you would have made the situation better for that person. stop beating yourself up! the only way to get better at iv starts or even nursing is to keep working.

btw, i know how you feel. i had a charge nurse make a stupid comment about me to other nurses in front of a new doc. the doc was angry with them and stated that rather then talk trash about me they needed to see that i got more practice. well, i have no problem starting ivs in general but the way they were talking they gave the impression that i never start my own ivs! so, i was embarrassed initially when he created an order on a patient that was not mine and requested that i start the iv for another nurse (my ears were burning)! plus, the patient was an easy stick!!!!

rather then feel bad or defend myself i started the iv in two seconds and immediately returned to my patients without comment. trust me... i prefer to never ever ask for help from other nurses because of the unprofessionalism that occurs by experienced nurses toward newer nurses in my work environment. i work in an er but i am made to understand, on a nightly basis, that i am not apart of this team. on the other hand, i have learned to take their comments in stride. i look at my weaknesses and work to improve.

in the very near future you may find that you will get better with iv starts once you have actually had someone teach you how to do them. the really hard sticks require tricks of the trade and practice because there is more then one way to successfully enter a vein without blowing the vein. what you and i were taught in nursing school is completely wrong. the method only seem to work 100% of the time on dummies and not humans. :lol2:gl!

[Hoozdo, ADN]

It's okay, at least you tried your best before calling for help. I give you extra

points for that. Many times, nurses don't even try before calling for help.

The ICU nurse was out of line. Keep plugging away and you will be an expert

some day.

[pers]

That's rough. I feel for you as a fellow new nurse who is not so great at IVs yet either. It's a shame you don't get more help from the nurses on your floor. Have you tried offering to help do something for them while they do an IV start for you? I usually offer to do some meds, check off charts or some other task that will keep them from falling behind while helping me.

I think you responded appropriately by thanking her and wouldn't worry about it too much. I understand where she's coming from since she had to leave her pt (and you can't help do any of her work) which may have put her behind a bit but sometimes it just can't be helped. You did what you could and followed your facilities protocol when you couldn't get the IV, sucks that it interrupted her work but that's not your fault.

[nursejohnny]

Well, we all know that when entering the Nursing field, its just not easy in general!! I've been in the field for a couple of years now, but when you have a team of other heath care professionals I believe we should all work together. I work in a outpatient clinic but we also have an urgent care unit side-by-side so I work in both areas. Sometimes I do find quite difficult to start Iv's (but its rare) Thankfully, we have a chemist on site at all times so when I find it difficult to start Iv's I just ask her to give a hand, if shes not busy- and she starts them with no problem (of course, she has to take samples for lab work anyway, so she does that as well) My point is, yes we should work together, but sometimes when we have patients Like in the ICU or Urgent Care setting we always have to be there for our patients even if the patient is stable. So just give it time, you'll get good at it-trust me!!

[arabianeyez83]

Why would the nurses you work with say no...can't you just say ok I'll do this for you if you go start my IV, that's what we do where I work. I work in the ER , I start like a million a day, when i first started i completely sucked at it and was nervous like you, but after doing it so many times i can do it with my eyes closed..the more you do the better you get. Seems like people need to be nicer where you work! Let your supervisor call an ER nurse next time, they might have better coverage down there while they start your IV!

[JBudd, MSN]

You may have made it clear there was no hurry to the supe, doesn't mean she told the ICU nurse. When we get a call in the ED to help with an IV on the floor, we assume (there's that word!) it is A) a hard stick B) been tried several times with no success C) urgent.

The last time I went over, it was an easy stick, noone else had tried, and was a routine IV; at 2 in the morning. I asked what was the problem that they needed to call me for? The answer was "we're just swamped and wanted some help". It took just as long to call the supe as it would have to start this easy stick; and interrupted my own work load.

Not saying she had any business yelling at you, as she didn't; PLEASE don't take it personally! Teamwork sometimes fails, but your closest coworkers did stand up for you remember. Just keep trying, :redbeathe , use it to learn from, and leave it behind. One incident doesn't define you!

[BackfromRetirement]

It has happened to most of us in the past. Depending on facility guidelines, you get 2-3 stick attempts before you ask for help. I am thrilled when another nurse "gets lucky" when i did not. Yes, experience helps but even Tiger Woods has days when he is not on his game. There are many tricks some nurses use; arm hanging lower than the body, warm wet towel soaks, then there's the ability to know where a vein is and palipate what you cannot see. I always schmooz with the lab lady to teach me tricks of finding veins. The ICU nurse was trumpeting her Bertha-better-than-you skills which does sound like displaced aggression towards you. There is always a sour apple in every bushel. Keep the faith and move on.

[carolmaccas66, BSN, RN]

The next time someone yells at you for something like that, ask them WHY they didn't inform you that they were too busy to come see you? Be polite, but be firm. Say something like: 'If you were really too busy, you should have said before coming up here and taking it out on me'. They will probably get really embarrassed and just end up walking away.

At my hospital the doctors have to cannulate people cos all they did was complain when the nurses did it, so the nurses all refused. Now we have to wait for Drs to turn up if patients need fluids - annoying, but if anything goes awry, the Dr gets the blame (their policy not mine).

[fungez]

I'm sorry you work at such a cruddy, hostile, toxic place. People act like that either because they're allowed or even encouraged (divide and conquer) by management. I'd suggest you to start looking for something better; trust me, you'll be much happier in a better environment.

I used to be great at IV starts and now I suck. I'm average at best. So don't feel bad, it happens. My eyesight is getter worse and those retractable IVs totally throw me off. I'm not going to apologize for it. If I can't physically do something, I can't physically do something. And you shouldn't feel bad either. This is a administration issue. They should a)start an IV team or b)stop tolerating lateral violence or c)quit short-staffing so much that patient care is compromised.

[elizabeth321]

Do you not have a charge nurse on your shift? That is the first place you should go...if you need to go off the unit to solve the issue it should be up to the charge nurse to do after all unit level support has been exhausted. I don't understand why so many different people are getting involved. In any event if you were told to call the supervisor and she sent an ICU nurse than you should call the supervisor back and let them know that though you were thankful to get the IV started you could have done without the rest. If the nurse was too busy to come help that is not your issue.

The main issue is your lack of confidence with starting IV's. That will come. Keep trying, and maybe ask your educator for some tips or one of the nurses who are quite good. We all have days where we need a hand and it is a shame that your direct unit is not supporting and mentoring you....it goes along way with staff retention and gold standard nursing care. This site makes me very sad...I had no idea how hostile the environment is for so many of you. It really makes nurses look bad more often than not.