Mel1234

I also found this article online that might be useful. http://www.froedtert.com/PDF/Vascular.PDF

So it seems that IV teams, when present, are generally only used for difficult sticks? Is there anyone out there whose hospital always uses an IV team rather than having floor nurses do the IVs? Maybe like a Children's hospital?

I am curious about the presence of IV teams. It seems that there are many variations on who administers IVs based on department, hospital, and region. For example, I have heard that L&D, Surg, and ER nurses tend to put in their own IVs because of time constraints (ER), or ease (L&D). I have also heard that ICU tends to have IV teams/CRNIs because the IVs tend to be difficult. I am interested in differences such as team presence, team composition, and team responsibilities. Any comments? In summary: 1. What are differences by department? by hospital? 2. Are there variations by geographical region? 3. Is there a trend toward creating more IV teams or getting rid of IV teams? Thanks!