Patients of all ages and diseases are subject to Infusion Therapy. When patients are admitted to the hospital or are having outpatient procedures, the nurse is the first health care professional that comes in contact with them. When assessing their vasculature to determine the appropriate device, this professional may or may not be trained in device selection. We are seeing Vascular Access Teams (VAT) popping up all over the country, and for very good reasons! The question is do you have a VAT team at your facility? This used to be the team of nurses who were the best IV starters, but now it’s more complex. Maybe the patient could benefit from something other than the peripheral IV. In an article in the Journal of Infusion Nursing, Sept/Oct 20123, called, Infusion Teams in Acute Care Hospitals, states that “A recent literature review reported first-venipuncture attempt success rates between 74% and 88% in the general population and 46% to 76% in pediatric patients”. I am not surprised by these numbers being on a VAT myself. I frequently get called to place the IV after many staff have failed and several attempts have occurred. Do you have a policy in place as to how many “sticks” you are allowed? Do you have a team of nurses to resource from for the “difficult” patient? And how are you becoming skilled in this procedure? We offer classes that can give you the skills you need to identify the appropriate device for the patient. We can help you create a team of skilled professionals to resource from. We cannot all be the best at everything, but we can be the best at some things!
Proud to Partner With:
