The Personalities of Veins: What Thousands of IV Starts Have Taught Me
The grape.
“I have rolling veins.”
I’ve heard some version of this warning hundreds of times before placing an IV. When a patient tells me their veins roll, I picture a grape sitting on an empty plate.
Imagine trying to pick up that grape with a fork. If you approach it gingerly, trying to delicately pierce the skin, the grape is likely to slide to one side. Instead, you have to commit. You need a quick, deliberate motion—enough force to pierce the grape, but controlled enough that the fork doesn’t go straight through it.
Some veins are like that.
When I find a firm vein that wants to move…
The skinny
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