For those of you who have wondered what I do at work for the IV team, here are some stats from last night.
Within an 8 hour shift:
Successful IV starts: 7
Unsuccessful IV starts: 3
Total sticks: 15
Difficult sticks: 5
Site care/IV dressing changes: 2
Central line dressing change: 1
D/C PICC: 1
Consult/Questions: 1
Code Blue/Rapid Response calls: 0 (praise the Lord)
At the end of each shift we have to charge things to each of the patients we've seen and then total up our stats and write them down in various places. Now you know a little better what an IV team nurse does. Well, at least for one night. Last night was a bad night for sticks for me.
Oh, and a clarification on difficult sticks; we actually do have to count those each night, and there are certain criteria for them. Anyone you stick more than once is automatically a difficult stick. Also, if you are in the room for 45 minutes, they are a difficult stick. If they are confused or fidgety, they're considered difficult, and if you make a recommendation for a PICC line, they're a difficult stick. So it's not quite as subjective as one might think.
Update: Tonight's stats
Successful IV starts: 9
Unsuccessful IV starts: 1
Total sticks: 19
Difficult sticks: 7
Cathflo: 3
Cathflo is a really fun drug we mix up to declot PICC lines.
2 comments:
Wow! You must have had a busy night last night. I hope you got to eat some dinner to keep up your strength. Keep up the good work!
Yeah. I was wondering what classified a "difficult stick." Thanks for clarifying. :)
Whew. That sounds like challenging work. What an awesome skill to have, though!
My outlook on life was immensely improved by an IV in Peru!
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