please inform me

virgo,student nurse, CNA · Jul 8, 2011

I don't know if it has anything to do with the basics. When you are in school, you sit through alot of lectures, take alot of tests, and sometimes get to practice what you have been taught. There are so many things to learn and experience in school, that you may not ever really be able to do it all.

Alot of new nurses may just need practice some skills, they may not have been able to experience in school. It is tough having to come out of school into, the world of nursing and have people's lives in your hand. They don't have an instructor telling them "this is right or wrong".

In time they will become confident, but in the meantime patience is important.:)

rusure · Jul 8, 2011

I agree if the nurse is new . It's a different story for the ones that has been doing this for many many yrs. I just believe if a nurse has been in his or her field for better than 5,6,10 yrs should know how to start an IV n be able to draw blood.

Boog'sCRRN246, RN · Jul 8, 2011

Some schools leave the skills of starting IVs and drawing blood to be learned on the job. There is so much theory and other skills that have to be covered that some things just aren't addressed.

As far as seasoned nurses not being to successfully start IVs or draw blood, I think it all depends on the setting. If it's a skill that's not done frequently, obviously the nurse won't remain proficient in it. Lastly, some nurses are just really bad at starting IVs/drawing blood.

Side note: Where do you work that CNAs are allowed to start IVs? I've never heard of that.

rn/writer, RN · Jul 8, 2011

Starting an IV is a skill that needs to be practiced or it becomes rusty.

When I was in school, we fought over the chance to start IVs. Most of us did only three or four throughout our entire clinical education.

The first place I worked had an infusion team. Then I worked psych for a long time, and anyone who needed an IV was shipped out to a medical unit. I now work postpartum where the patients come to us from L&D with their IVs in place.

I can easily see how nurses lose their proficiency.

on top of that they want to get mad with the CNAs and CAs if they can't get.

Are you saying that they're asking CNAs (not sure what a CA is) to start IVs? That seems very strange to me.

rusure · Jul 8, 2011

No I'm not saying that CNAs are being ask to start IVs. I'm saying that I find it strange that some nurses do not know how to start an IV or draw blood with a simple butterfly.

blackandyellow · Jul 8, 2011

Some people haven't had to start an IV since school. At the nursing home I work at they just started using IV's and many of the nurses go to recert classes to keep up their certification but haven't had to apply it in the real world since nursing school. I'm a PCT also in a hospital so I have my phlebotomy certificate and find myself helping them quite a bit. I think a lot of it is nerves and sometimes starting on an elderly person can be hard not a lot of IV access.

allnurses Guide · Jul 9, 2011

Many nurses, in settings where IVs are not common, become rusty.

Also, some pts are very hard to start. They may have poor veins.

The nurses may be frustrated because they know there is a darn important reason to get that IV going, but they just can't.

Should they take that out on you?

Absolutely not.

But if I heard a CNA rip on my skills-- skills the CNA has never learned-- I would quite annoyed.