Fourth Year Nursing Students

They are just starting to do IV's around here during clinicals? Someone please help me to understand this..

We had a fourth year with us this weekend in our Emergency Department. I am an ED tech (as a paramedic.) As a tech, I routinely do things such as IV's, Foleys, dressings, OCL splinting, and various scutwork. She, as an experience nursing student, was well-versed in the five phases of nursing process, documentation, pharmacology, etc. But, as I threw the IV prep kit at her during a chest pain, her eyes got the "deer in headlights." She whispers "but I have never done this on a live person." OK, her RN preceptor tells me to walk her through it while she tends to the pt. He ended up being a very hard stick, but her preceptor and I made it her mission for the day to at least get a few sticks under her belt.

Now, I as a paramedic student, well into her second week of school, had to practice on another student. It is one of my fond memories of medic school-the part where I nearly passed out from my partner spending what I thought was minutes poking around inside my hand. Nice "hematomato" which took weeks to finally go away. So, where in nursing school do they take one of the more important aspects and throw it into the last semester, like it isn't important?

Well, what ended up happening, upon me offering my hand for some "poking time," our ED PHYSICIAN steps in (he must've been in an extremely good mood) and sits down. It's time for the SN to get her first IV. She looked like she was ready to cry. Three or four of us stood by her with encouragement. The doc directed it. BOOM, she blows through the vein on his left hand. Could've gotten about a 16 into that one, but we were gentle on him by picking a 22. It' OK, he offers his other hand. She didn't get that one either, but c'mon, first live stick on the doc, that'll stay with her forever! So, then it was my turn...I offer up my left hand, and then a few others get into the mix. By the end, we were all walking around with pink Coflex wrapped on hands and arms.

During this whole event I, too, was listening and learning to each one's advice. Everybody has got a bit of a different technique (but the basics are the same.) I have been struggling with my sticks (at about 50%) and have been attempting to figure out the problem...one day it is the "dive bomb", which I fixed, but there are other issues (like the "rolley veins", and my favorite at the moment, catheter size selection vs.vein size), and I am trying to get better. So, I do not criticize the SN, heck, no. The only way to learn in theis case is to DO. And, I am sill the information sponge. I am also seriously looking into some extra schooling-maybe a one day class or a day with the IV nurse? We'll see, I barely have time right now.....