oh boy, Susie and Camama! veins they are a problem. is ther an IV team @ your hospital? oh, that space in the inside of the elbow part of the arm is the antecubital space. that's a great place for IV. if your veins are hard and scarred then they will damage quickly. it's great to have a port! as long as you keep it strictly clean and well maintained...its a godsend! many times nurses just use the standard cannulas
and don't take the time to ask the patients vein history,
if they have difficult veins or which they prefer. using a longer but smaller gauge needle does the trick sometimes. also, instead of a turniquette we use a bloodpressure cuff too;makes for less traumatic pressure on fragile veins. i'll do some troubleshooting and see what other techniques there are for easy IV insertion
..i'm an ace at venipuncture...now, a lot of nurses do not perform phlebotomy because a phlebotomist comes round and does bloodwork....and some hospitals do not have IV teams which are a really super thing to have.
oh, if you know you're going to have an IV treatment and don't have a port....drink a lot of fluids and water because that will make your veins full. dehydrated veins are hard to work with....you can also try exercising or putting your arm in a dependent down position to make them plump up a bit too.
where's nurse Flopsie? she'd be a good resource for this topic!
take good care
erin 