RN's who cannot insert IV's being Fired???

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Hello! just wanna know if it is mandatory for all RN's to insert IV's? Because a fellow nurse who is more than well experienced and very skillful in other procedures and previously IV certified too who refused to do IV's was terminated. Nurse claims she developed phobia to it after a very bad experience with a patient. Can a person really be forced to do anything that she is not comfortable and has developed an aversion to it. Is it fair to the hospital and to the nurse? Thanks!

If this was an issue of cleaning poop, would you think that her co-workers should just be 'team players' and clean her pts everytime they poop, so that she doesn't have to? I mean, 'that's just so stressful to do', right?

I don't know, maybe I'm just a little unsympathetic, but if I just couldn't start IVs anymore, rather than waiting to be fired; I'd find a job that doesn't require me to start IVs. It's not like they aren't out there.

~faith,

Timothy.

Starting IV's is much more of a practiced skill then cleaning up poop. Anyone can clean a patient. IV's are harder. It's all teamwork. I happen to be good with starting IV's but when I can't feel a vein, or aren't confident, I don't stick my patient. It's not fair to cause harm for no reason. If that is the only thing they won't do, there is nothing wrong with helping.

In helping this nurse it's more important to find out the root of the problem. This nurse might have put in a bad IV where the med extravasated and caused serious problems. I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to do it anymore. As good nurses when we have patients that are anxious or angry we talk to them to find out the root of their anxiety or anger. This nurse deserves the same.

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How about this one. There is a nurse on my floor who is a great stick but won't start IVs on HIV/Hepatitis patients. The worst part is, she will ask another nurse to try her "hard stick" patient and FAIL to tell them it is an HIV patient. So, now we know that when she asks another nurse to start an IV for her...they probably have a bloodborne disease.

That is ridiculous! Did she forget that if you wear gloves you are ok? And that's selfish. She won't do it because she worries for herself but she's not worried about the other nurses being exposed. I would tell her to do it herself.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
Starting IV's is much more of a practiced skill then cleaning up poop. Anyone can clean a patient. IV's are harder. It's all teamwork. I happen to be good with starting IV's but when I can't feel a vein, or aren't confident, I don't stick my patient. It's not fair to cause harm for no reason. If that is the only thing they won't do, there is nothing wrong with helping.

In helping this nurse it's more important to find out the root of the problem. This nurse might have put in a bad IV where the med extravasated and caused serious problems. I wouldn't blame her for not wanting to do it anymore. As good nurses when we have patients that are anxious or angry we talk to them to find out the root of their anxiety or anger. This nurse deserves the same.

We don't know 100% what went on, and unless the op was a fly on the wall following her around the op doesn't either. I'm sure there were nurses around willing to listen to her. She was offered remedial training, etc.

I think it works both ways. If I have fears and phobias that I'm unwilling to face, and allow myself to refuse all help and to get written up, counseled and fired, some of the responsibility is mine. If I'm a Jockey, sooner or later it is my responsibility to find a way to get on the horse. Others shouldn't enable me to be a jockey without riding the horse eventually. It's not fair to them and utlimately it's not fair to me to be enabled in such a fashion that I stay sick in my fears.

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i think.. not necessarily should be being FIRED, not unless he/she's already a licensed iv therapist. anyway,one cannot practice iv insertrion without undergoing IV THERAPY program for nurses

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Specializes in Med-Surg.
i think.. not necessarily should be being FIRED, not unless he/she's already a licensed iv therapist. anyway,one cannot practice iv insertrion without undergoing IV THERAPY program for nurses

In Florida, and North Carolina where I'm from, there is no such thing. We are able to start IVs because we're RNs and we learn it in school. There is no separate IV Therapy program for nurses. I've been starting IVs for many years and never had to attend such a program.

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i think.. not necessarily should be being FIRED, not unless he/she's already a licensed iv therapist. anyway,one cannot practice iv insertrion without undergoing IV THERAPY program for nurses

I too have never had an IV program or certification. I didn't learn it in nursing school and when I was hired it was mentioned for like 5 minutes.

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In Florida, and North Carolina where I'm from, there is no such thing. We are able to start IVs because we're RNs and we learn it in school. There is no separate IV Therapy program for nurses. I've been starting IVs for many years and never had to attend such a program.

No program is given here in MA as well, we just have to have another nurse watch us start three successful IV's.

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Specializes in OR.

I've been going through grad nurse orientation this week, and we had a one day IV course. My nursing program didn't teach it(most of the programs around here don't) and we also have to get signed off on 3 sticks. I will be working in the OR and we don't get that many of them. I do still want to learn it- I must admit I'm a little nervous about it though.

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just to get things straight. the nurse was a foreign nurse. she was a very good nurse with all credentials and experience from her country. was recruited and promised to be going on to a hospital supposedly with an IV team. agency (her employer)promised her no problem since there are about 176 hospitals scattered all over US where she can be put into. Agency knows her handicap and which is only for IV's. Charge nurse reported her to management. Management ordered her to go to day surgery precisely to do IV insertions!!!!! disregarding her phobia!!!! HRD knowing fully well her predicament then offered to put her into nursery which BTW has an opening too. Nurse accepted. HRD and Manager had an argument since manager claims "other nurses are now also requesting to be put in nursery too" and wont do IV starts. HRD took back her schedule and terminated her now for insubordination. Well ....what do you think??? Is this fair or not??? Nurse claims she was willing to work and had accepted her new position, but it was HRD who terminated her. Even worse, agency is now trying to collect 13 th dollars supposedly for breaching her contract. personally, I think she didn't get fair treatment here.

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In my department(emergency), you'll not be there in the first place if you can't fix IV's but if for some reason you can't do it, you may request to be transferred to another unit. But there's no guarantee that you'll be transferred

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Specializes in PACU, ED.

That does clear it up a bit. My opinion:

1. The agency needs to place her somewhere else if they accepted that she won't attempt IV starts. (This is assuming she was totally up front with the agency that she would NOT attempt IV starts and didn't just say she had a problem with IVs.)

2. The hospital is correct to expect nurses to at least attempt IV starts. It's part of the job just as foleys, wound care, ng tubes, etc. If someone can't or won't do the job then it's unfair to others on the team to keep them around unless everybody else agrees they want to pick up the slack and cover for that person.

3. There are many nursing opportunities that do not require IV starts. Maybe she should focus on one of those; school nurse, doctor's office, various clinics, etc.

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Specializes in Critical Care.
HRD and Manager had an argument since manager claims "other nurses are now also requesting to be put in nursery too" and wont do IV starts.

Which was one of my major points.

When you make 'job requirements' optional, then they are no longer 'requirements'.

And, if you do that for one, it's extremely divisive for morale not to do that for EVERYONE.

The only FAIR way for HR to deal with it is to enforce the 'requirements' as not optional.

It sounds like her beef is w/ her agency for placing her in a position where IV starts were a requirement. It's not the hospital's fault that the agency lied to both of them (her and the hospital) about your hospital's requirements and her abilities to comply with said requirements.

But that doesn't mean that they aren't . . . requirements.

~faith,

Timothy.

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