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Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral Venous Access

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The Ultimate Guide to Point-of-Care Ultrasound-Guided Procedures

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Abstract

Difficult peripheral venous access is commonplace in healthcare. It is disruptive to patient care, and failure to obtain venous access impedes delivery of care in a timely manner. Failure to obtain peripheral access may lead to central line placement and subsequent increased risk to the patient secondary to the many complications of central lines. Ultrasound-guided peripheral access allows clinicians to obtain peripheral access in situations where blind-, landmark-, or palpation-based techniques fail. The proper technique for ultrasound-guided peripheral venous access requires a different skill set than that of traditional intravenous catheter placement and is best performed in the long axis. It can be used to access the antecubital veins, the forearm veins, the saphenous vein or the deep veins of the upper extremity, the basilic vein, and the brachial veins. Utilizing ultrasound guidance for the placement of peripheral venous catheters leads to increased success, fewer needle sticks, fewer complications, and increased patient satisfaction compared to landmark- or palpation-based techniques in patients with difficult venous access.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Cincinnati, Department of Emergency Medicine, Cincinnati, OH, USA

    Lori Stolz

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  1. Lori Stolz
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Correspondence to Lori Stolz .

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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ, USA

    Srikar Adhikari

  2. Department of Medicine, University of South Carolina, Columbia, SC, USA

    Michael Blaivas

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Stolz, L. (2020). Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral Venous Access. In: Adhikari, S., Blaivas, M. (eds) The Ultimate Guide to Point-of-Care Ultrasound-Guided Procedures . Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28267-7_12

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-28267-7_12

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Cham

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-030-28265-3

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-030-28267-7

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