Vein viewing device

gypsyatheart · Jul 4, 2007

We use transilluminators in the NICU, helpful for that population, some like 'em, others, not so much. You can purchase mini-transilluminators for your personal use, one of our nurses was selling them last yr, she got them at a 'discount' and we paid $20 for them. I, personally, don't think they are that helpful w/the adult population, but maybe as a last resort....it might work.

EmmaG, RN · Jul 4, 2007

We were shown how to use them in my PICC class, but the hospital didn't own any lol.

(the instructors were from another facility and had brought their own)

Other than that, I've never worked anywhere where they were in use.

natrgrrl · Jul 4, 2007

Children's Hospital in Omaha uses them. http://www.chsomaha.org/body.cfm?id=1101

My mom has terrible veins. They tried this on her but it wasn't very helpful, just verified what was already known. In children, though, I think it can be very useful.

EricJRN, MSN, RN · Jul 4, 2007

We use one in our NICU, but the success rate with it hasn't been as wonderful as I think we had hoped.

CritterLover, BSN, RN · Jul 4, 2007

i was just browsing my nursing 2007 june edition and was reading an article on vein viewing devices. has anyone seen or used one in practice? it seems like a wonderful piece of technology... i'm willing to bet a costly one though... here's the one they talk about in the article, veinviewer by luminetx. now to convince my manager... ;-)

i've used it.

i wasn't impressed.

i think it is helpful in the pediatric population.

the problem with adult patients:

the device only illuminates about 1/8 of an inch down (per the rep). this means that it doesn't help with deep veins. when you are using it, the vein shows up like a dark line. then it will just "disappear." there is no way to tell if it just gets deeper there, or really disappears.
there is no way to tell how how deep to aim (other than knowing it can't be very deep if it is illuminated)
it doesn't keep the veins from rolling
it doesn't make non-patent veins patent
it doesn't make a patient with "no veins" suddenly have veins.
it is also absolutely huge

basically, in the adult population, it shows veins that you can find by paplation, anyway. it might be helpful to those who need to learn to start ivs and are having a hard time finding veins; but to those who already know how to find veins, it isn't going to help much.

i've also used ultrasound for iv placement (both piccs and regular ivs). now that is helpful. depths up to 4 cm (realistically), shows you if the vein is open, and you can use it to "guide" the iv/finder needle into the vein.

CritterLover, BSN, RN · Jul 4, 2007

we were shown how to use them in my picc class, but the hospital didn't own any lol.
(the instructors were from another facility and had brought their own)
other than that, i've never worked anywhere where they were in use.

i'm surprised anyone would try to use the vein viewer for picc placement. unless you were using an a/c vein, or the patient had just wonderful veins, i wouldn't think you would be able to illuminate any vein worth using.

an ultrasound is much more portable, useful, and cheaper. the learning curve on the ultrasound is a lot steeper, but it is a much more useful tool in the end.

EmmaG, RN · Jul 4, 2007

i'm surprised anyone would try to use the vein viewer for picc placement. unless you were using an a/c vein, or the patient had just wonderful veins, i wouldn't think you would be able to illuminate any vein worth using.
an ultrasound is much more portable, useful, and cheaper. the learning curve on the ultrasound is a lot steeper, but it is a much more useful tool in the end.

it was the u/s device; i wasn't paying much attention to the op, sorry. i was thinking of vein-finding devices in general rather those like the one in the link.

nursemike, ASN, RN · Jul 4, 2007

I bought a Venoscope online for about 175 dollars. I'm not sure I'd say it has been worth the price, but it hasn't been useless. My thinking, at the time, was that anything that would help my confidence would be worthwhile.

I use it to visualize just about any vein that isn't utterly obvious. In some cases, it does just as advertised. Other times it's one piece of data, along with "feel", knowledge of anatomy, and earnest prayer. Sometimes the most it accomplishes is ruling out a vein I know is there, but it's too deep to see.

I have found it a tremendous help on African Americans, and pretty helpful on the obese.

Among my colleagues, the very best "stickers" haven't been impressed, but other newbies like it. It's possible, but not as easy, to do the same thing with a very bright flashlight.

Sillynicunurse · Jul 4, 2007

I had the opportunity to use a vein veiwer twice during clinicals on patients that were supposed to be "really tough" sticks. I was not impressed. It was really large and as we all know hospital rooms are already crowded. It did illuminate the vein but I had already palpated the vein without difficulty and I had to have my instructor turn it off because the machine altered my depth perception....after she turned off the machine I was able to insert the IV. Maybe it is just practice makes perfect with this machine.

neneRN, BSN, RN · Jul 5, 2007

We have both an U/S machine for IVs and a venoscope; the dept spent a lot of money on the U/S for the nurses...don't think its been used more than 10 times in 2 years-I tried it once, found it too awkward. I think everyone forgets we even have it. The venoscopes, we've only had for a few months, I do use those once in a while, have had good results each time. We do so many IVs in the ER though, that its not too horribly often that somebody can't get an IV in the pt; if the pts that hard of a stick, then we'll get the doc to do an EJ or central line...once in a while the IV team will come put in a PICC at bedside.

caringforlife · Jul 5, 2007

I am a pediatric/pediatric intensive care nurse. Our foundation just purchased us a Vein Viewer by Luminetx. It is very spendy. We were told $25,000.

It is large, but easy to manuever.

It is great for looking at my veins, but they are very easy to see.

I have had success with it on some patients and I have found it to be completely useless on others. Everyone on here keeps saying it is good for peds, but for chubby baby/toddler hands and feet it hasn't proved to be that useful in my opinion as it does only penetrate to 1/8" per the rep that was here last week.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have it, but I like to use it as an secondary means of locating a vein instead of a primary. It is nice for when I think I'm feeling something or seeing something and then I am able to look with veinviewer and make sure.

I'm guessing it will take time, but hopefully it will decrease our overall number of attemps.

Good luck! Check with you manager and see if you can have the rep bring one for a day and you can all check it out.