chanjyj

Thank you all for your encouraging replies. I have managed to put in a few IVs recently, with around a 70% success rate. Not perfect, but much better than before. Why I "just couldn't" before I still can't figure out, and till this day I can't really identify what went wrong... or went right which bugs me. And yes indeed. 90% of my ICU patients have central lines, port-a-caths, you name it. Those that don't come up from emergency with 18G needles in them already nice and patent.

I'm a new grad (Nov 2014), having a mid career change from business to nursing. I feel pretty competent in all aspects of my ICU nursing path so far except one - a horrific failure rate for IV starts. At best, I probably get an IV in 10% of the time the past 8 months. I'm traumatized to the point where I avoid starting IVs like the plague, and get the phlebotomist to take blood. This is further compounded by the fact the most ICU patients have a central line of some sort and the opportunities to insert peripheral IVs are low. The facility in which I work in does not have senior nurses who are willing to watch you put in an IV - and I can't gain any feedback this way. Sadly, their mentality is to call a physician if you can't put one in; rather than try improve on your skills. I've read multiple articles and "tips/tricks" on this topic. None seem like to have helped me. I don't get a flashback most of the time and cannot figure out what I'm doing wrong. Been following textbook instructions to the letter. Any advice before I give up?

Reading this thread, I am starting to severely regret my decision to switch industry (I have another Bachelors degree) and head to Australia to commence with my Bachelor of Nursing. But the money has been spent (a sizeable chunk of savings, at that) and I guess it's too late for recriminations as I'll be touching down on Australian soil in 6 days time. Ah, the irony.