You're TERRIBLE at IV starts?? omg!

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Are there any nurses that aren't the greatest at starting IVs? If so, how many years have you been a nurse, and who do you get to help you start IVs?

I'm ok at them, but MAN.. today at the endoscopy center I was only able to get one started!! :p I blew one vein, and the other one rolled on me (I just started there PRN). I thought I was pretty good at getting them, but apparently not. Oh well, I need the practice. For some reason I have it in my head that all nurses are good at starting IVs... don't know why I think that, lol.

Starting IV's is "just" a mechanical skill. But there is an "art" to it that many nurses (myself included) don't come to naturally.

Painting a wall is "just" a mechanical skill....yet I end up with brush marks, missed areas, paint on the ceiling....then watch a professional house painter paint a room and..wow it looks easy and perfect.

Cooking marinara sauce from scratch is a mechanical skill (as long as you can read a recipe) yet mine NEVER come out right or taste as good as a what a good cook can do.

(In case you wondered I'm a terrible painter and cook!)

I started IV's on and off for years...never frequently.....but always doubted my skills. When I succeeded I thought...boy what a lucky day for me, (and the poor patient.)

Then I got a job where I started 5 - 10 IV's a day. It still took me several years to go from...today was a lucky day....to REALLY feeling mentally, physically, psychologically, that I knew all the ins and outs, of why, what, how, where I was poking patients.

No one should give up. I had many bad days when I started. I always felt there was just some trick, hurdle, mental block, I needed to overcome to become good. I guess I am an eternal optimist? Gradually my confidence kicked in (which I think was 90% of the battle).

I consciously, or subconsciously, have at least 20 "tricks" I do with almost every IV start, that the naturally good nurses don't even need to think about.

I still try to paint and cook.....haven't overcome that hurdle yet!

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I've only started about five successful IVs in my lifetime

Sounds like me :-(

Now nurses on the floor think I'm some sort of IV Yoda because I stick all those renal pts and we all know how hard that can be. I don't tell

them how freakin' big those fistulas are. LOL.

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