Hey! This puzzled me as well, i have a video called super detailed guide to iv cannulation… i show a diagram of the valve. And why the shape causes the cannula to get obstructed
Good video like so many more of your videos! I use a technique where If I hit a valve and unbale to push the cannula through any further, I would give a saline flush and advance the cannula as I am flushing , this seems to open up the valve and the cannula would go in without any trouble most of the time
Anecdotally, I find that flushing the cannula and pushing it through to the other side of the valve can also work. This is important in radiology because our cannulas need to be very stable for high speed injections, having a cannula half in is risky. It might not always work, but if you think it's a valve, flushing an advancing can be good. Just make sure you are up against a valve an not through the other side of the vein, otherwise your flush is going straight into the tissue!
Three reasons why you "miss" an IV and one of them is rare. You either are too far, too short or the guage is too big. Third one is rare. Other two, especially the second is 90+ percent of the reason for failed IV access. Slow and steady wins the race. Get flash, advance 2mm and thread. You're welcome.
What do you think of advancing the catheter through a valve while simultaneously flushing in order to open and keep the valve open with pushed saline during the advancement?
in my expirence I hit them "often". If you pull back and use your flush to advance (as you flush, the valve opens; ofc just if it feels as smoothly as normal without pain of paitent and bloating of the vein) you can safley push your canula forward enough to ensure proper placment of the i.v.
