We are a new IV therapy team staffed with former adult critical care nurses and adult IV therapy nurses. None of us have much pedatric experience. We are having some difficulty in gaining peripheral access in the pedatric population due to our lack of exposure. Does anyone have any suggestions on technology that we could invest in to ease us over the learning curve? We currently have the portable vein lite and site rite. Thanks in advance for you help!
You need to read all the resources on pediatric IV therapy. There are peds chapter in all the IV textbooks that are valuable resources. There are no actual differences in the venipuncture procedure or anatomy and physiology. But there are tremendous differences in growth and development that impact sites chosen and your approach to each age group. There are also age-based differences in flow control and medication dosing. This is just the tip of the iceburg. Knowing the psychosocial differences between infants, toddlers, pre-school age, school age and adolescents is critical to your success. Lynn
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, BC, CRNI
www.hadawayassociates.com
Lynn Hadaway, M.Ed., RN, NPD-BC, CRNI
Lynn Hadaway Associates, Inc.
PO Box 10
Milner, GA 30257
Website http://www.hadawayassociates.com
Office Phone 770-358-7861
I have been a peds nurse for most of my 17 years in nursing and the last 5 years as an IV nurse. I have enclosed some attachments that I received from our Child Life department when I was developing an outreach program.
Hope this helps some :o)
Caleb Kent, RN, BSN, CRNI
Wee Sight works great for PIV access/blood draw for kids less than 2 years old. cost between $57 to $63. you can order directly from the toll free number. http://weesight.respironics.com/
for deep veins, ilook 25 is a better choice than other brand. (clearer imagine, easy to use)
http://www.sonosite.com/products/ilook/
cost about $15,000. (if you have the $, MicroMaxx is the top of the line from sonosite.)
We make sure that everyone knows where veins are located anatomically, and that each nurse is astute at how to handle developmental levels. Child life is a big help. We use a Wee sight light also, not just to locate veins, but to verify veins that we feel. There were some IV rounds articles with good tips and techniques in Nursing a while ago. They are helpful for my new staff. And the new RN VOICE website, which is free to join, is wonderful in how to decrease pain of venipuncture. That website is http://www.manageivpain.com/
Anne Marie Frey RN, BSN, CRNI
Clinical Nurse Level Four
Vascular Access Service: I.V. Team
The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
Anne Marie Frey RN, BSN, CRNI, VA-BC Clinical Expert Vascular Access Service: I.V. Team The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia [email protected]
Caleb:
Use your site-rite! The site-rite has become my FRIEND! I am an NICU RN, but am now doing all pediatric PICCs. It was a bit difficult at first trying to start a PICC on a baby with FAT. I am learning to verify where those veins should be anatomically with my site-rite (as not everyone is anatomically correct). Sometimes I even use the site-rite with a sterile probe cover and watch my 26 GA introducer go into the vein. I have had much success with this method.
Also--- Don't be deceived! Sometimes it looks like all the veins have been blown on a baby, as you see lots of bruising or poke marks, but if you use your ultrasound, will sometimes find that the veins are still intact and beautiful under all that brusing.
Hopes this helps!
Gretchen