vein viewer

Specialties NICU

Published

does anyones hospital use the new machine that illuminates the veins? Our hospital had an inservice on them the other day. It is very neat can see the veins good. We tried it on one of our babies. The nurse sticking said she could see where it would help, but it was going to take getting use to. She said it is a little distracting at first. Were only testing it out sooo. We have one were using for the whole hosptial now. Its a big machine that lets you see the veins. It works for adults as welll as kids. I wish we could use it on one of our really hard to stick babies and see how well it works.

Specializes in NICU.

We have both the larger transilluminator on wheels, and a couple of the portable ones in our NICU. We are a 70+ bed unit, so they are put into use frequently. Our MDs, and NNPs use them to transilluminate arteries for arterial lines, veins for PICCs, and also chest walls to see if an infant has a pneumothorax--the whole chest will light up on the side of the pneumo.

I use the large ones on our hard-to-stick babies; always with a 2nd RN for assistance to hold the light, and help hold the baby, while I stick. I have also used the smaller, portable transilluminators, but the larger one seems to work better as far as visualization of veins.

It helps to have all your supplies ready and at arm's reach before you stick. Also, anything you I can do to help the baby tolerate the procedure, I do---SweetEase, swaddling, a pacifier, someone to help hold the baby in position---anything to avoid multiple sticks on an infant.

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We have the large roll around one and a small black hand-held one. I love the small one, it's much more manageable than the roll-around one.

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I found this video on the site that JessicaRN posted. It looks pretty cool.

http://www.luminetx.com/video/03-12-07Houston.wmv

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Specializes in Neonatal ICU (Cardiothoracic).

I think what the OP is talking about is a device featured in last month's Nursing 2007 magazine. I can't for the life of me remember what it's called, but it is pretty bulky. What it does is use infrared light head placed 8-12 inches over the extremity to distinguish between the fluid-filled veins and solid tissue. It then projects an image of the veins directly onto the skin using a mini-projector. It constantly refreshes the image so you can move it around. So even if YOU can't see/feel veins, the machine can...

Stephen

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Specializes in PICU, surgical post-op.

We're trialling it on our unit right now (PICU, not NICU). It's been getting mixed reviews. We did place a couple IVs with it, but it's not really good on chubby black babies, which is the population that we have the most trouble with in the first place. I think it might end up being more of a gimmick than anything.

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Specializes in NICU, Charge & Transport Nurse.

We have the Vein Veiwer in our NICU. It was on the news with a lot of hype. But it doesnt work as well as the transillumenator. With the vein viewer you cant tell depth of the vein just its general location. I think it is better for adults. Labor and delivery borrows it a lot and they love it. Here on our unit it just collects dust.

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I have sort of a different question, I was in the ER of a childrens hospital and they had a machine that was simply a LED light in a flexible cord attached to a machine, they would run the light over the skin and boom see the veins. My question is can I purchase a LED pen light that can be used to do the same thing? I always carry a pen light so if I could find one that could be used for both examinations and this purpose that would be great.

Anyone with any info or how wide of a beam I would need for it to be effective, I think the one in the hospital was about 1/2" diameter. Also would a half inch diameter pen light be uneffective for doing optic tests?

Thanks for any help

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Specializes in NICU, adult med-tele.
We use the transilluminator attachment on the bili blankets all the time for IV lines/PICCs or to transilluminate a chest. I will say it kind of ruins you after you get used to using it. One of our product reps gave us a hand held mini-transilluminator a few weeks ago and we love it. It's especially nice for resting a little foot on. If a proctor say it's ok I'll post a link to it.

This exactly is what I was thinking.

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Specializes in ICU.

Did you ever try the LED flashlight idea? Wondering if it works.

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Specializes in NICU Level III.

I never use transilluminators..but the VeinViewer is something different. I think we have one but no one uses it because it is HUGE and a pain. We trialed handheld VeinViewers (NOT transilluminators) and I don't think we ever bought any but they were great for the chronics with darker skin tones.

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