Starting IVs can be daunting, especially when you are a new nurse. One rookie mistake that I made was that I would insert the needle into the vein and get blood return, but then I couldn't slide the cannula off into the vein.

Eventually, I realized that my problem was that there is a gap between the end of the cannula and the end of the needle, and I wasn't inserting the needle far enough into the vein.

To solve this problem, I learned to insert the needle until I got blood return. Then, I'd advance the needle a bit more - around 2mm, or the width of a nickel - to ensure that the cannula was in the vein.

After that, I could advance the cannula with ease, and I no longer missed veins.

Here are more tips to help with IV therapy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MbG_1-_mnoo&list=PLQrdx7rRsKfXr6kruqEpIovf66sxo0gxh

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