Tips for safer, more effective venipuncture and IV catheter placement

Choosing the right vein, selecting an appropriate catheter, and knowing when to slow down are all important parts of safe venipuncture and IV catheter placement. In this interview, recorded at the Fetch National Harbor veterinary conference, Alyssa Mages, CVT, FVTE, VTES, cofounder and chief veterinary officer of Empowering Veterinary Teams, discusses catheter selection, common procedural mistakes, and how hands-on practice can help technicians build their skills.

Mages is also a contributing author to Veterinary Training and Team Empowerment, an upcoming textbook that explores team-based approaches to developing training programs and workplace cultures that support training in veterinary practices.

Below is a partial transcript, which has been lightly edited for clarity.

dvm360: When placing a standard IV catheter, what are some of the most common mistakes you see, and how can technicians improve?

Mages: Common mistakes—and I'm guilty of it—is rushing, or you just want to get that in, or being overconfident. Those are the two things that we tend to see the most with my team, and when an EVT trainer is working with them, it's really making sure you're having those different types of conversations. You train the skill, but you coach the person.

If you're nervous and you're shaking, you're not going to have that smooth, fluid movement. So it's making sure that you understand the vasculature, you know the different branches of the vessels that you are phlebotomizing, and again, really not stepping over that line of confidence into arrogance. It's taking your time—not being too slow, but not rushing—and reading the cues from your patients as well, because you have a very small window with some of them to place this. You don't want to stress them out, and you don't want to cause any pain or discomfort.

It's making sure you're confident in your skills, which is why we are so excited to have the EVT training veins that we've developed, so you can really get that muscle memory on an artificial vessel and then translate that to a live patient.