What is the single most important intervention you can give your patient to help make them well? Is it giving them their oral meds or monitoring their blood pressure? Is it bathing them? How about teaching them about their meds and illness, or flipping their pillow, or getting them out of bed and up moving? How about in an emergent situation? What will you do? All of these are important in their own right, but not one of them will truly be as beneficial as initiating a good patent intravenous line (IV).
Let’s face it, when patients are admitted to the hospital they are most often having pain, are hypotensive, are septic, are having heart problems or having a stroke, are going for surgery, etc, etc. The only way to effectively treat these patients is to establish a patent IV. These patients without a doubt need fluid, IV antibiotics, vasoactive IV medications, blood, electrolytes, and even IV narcotics to control their pain rapidly. I believe that the single most important skill a nurse or paramedic needs to have in their practice is to be proficient in starting an IV. Without this skill you are effectively handicapped in the treatment of your patient and at the very least, if someone else needs to start the IV, sometimes necessary treatment can and will be delayed.
Learn the fine art of this technique by going to www.theartoftheivstart.com. There is a way to do this and become confident as a nurse or medic. You have to know how to look and what to look for. You need to know the little tricks that most people will never tell you. It is more than sticking a rubber mannequin’s arm and feeling good about yourself. It takes belief, and confidence in knowing that you are better than you think you are. IV initiation looks easy but it’s not. You may experience success as we all do, but how truly proficient are you. It takes finesse.
If you read my book as a student you will gain insight into your patient’s most important treatment that you will not learn in school or on the job. You will also place yourself ahead of the curve. Once you are in your position as a nurse or medic, now you can go back to “The ART of the IV Start” for review and hone your skills to become truly great at what you do. I assure you, you will succeed and your patients will thank you for saving them multiple sticks
You have nothing to lose and everything to gain.
So let’s talk. This is my way of helping to improve the system to improve patient care and increase the confidence level of nurses and medics alike.