Transilluminators- Help!

**NICU Guy, BSN, RN** · May 25, 2021

What are you guys doing to the Wee-Sights? We use them and I have never seen one broken.

Most of the nurses do not use the Wee-Sights unless we can't find any straight veins or they are micro preemies.

adventure_rn, MSN, NP · May 26, 2021

I seriously dislike Wee Sights--IMO, they don't get bright enough, and they are so cumbersome to use. They're alright for starting a hand IV, but they stink for looking for deeper veins (forearms, saphs), or any vein where you're looking from the side instead of underneath (wrists above the thumb, forearms).

I much prefer the products that have a battery box, then attach to a long cord with the light on the end. They're a lot more versatile than the Wee-Sight--you can wrap a hand around them (like a Wee Sight), or you can easily put them up against the edge/side of the extremity to see deeper veins. Plus, you can buy sterile sleeves, or just drop the end into the finger of a sterile glove, if you want to use them during PICC placement.

The two that I'm familiar with are Venoscope and Astodia. Astodia is the fanciest--it has the option for red or orange light, and you can adjust the brightness to fine-tune your view (our PICC nurses love this feature, since they have their specific preferences for different sites). The problem is that it turns itself off after a certain amount of time to avoid battery depletion, which sucks during PICCs (have somebody on standby to turn it back on). I personally like the Venoscopes--they're plenty bright, and don't turn off.

https://www.delasco.com/venoscope-neonatal-transilluminator/

http://www.futuremedamerica.com/astodia.html

The problem is that these options are more expensive than the Wee Sight. From what I've seen, Wee Sight is ~$125, Venoscope is ~$350, and Astodia (with the adjustable color/brightness) is ~$800. People often have their own specific preferences, so I feel like it's a good idea to have a couple of different options on hand if you can.

The biggest issue with the 'corded' transilluminators is that you shouldn't wrap the cord around the body of the battery pack (which people tend to do out of habit), or the cords will eventually start to fray. Definitely a staff teaching point.