We truly live in the best time…
I Love when the President rips people a new asshole with his tweets, his humor is awesome.. one day when this is all behind us. I want to meet that man…
Many hospitals prefer that IVs be started as distally as possible. That way if the IV fails, all they have to do is start another one further up. If you start with a proximal (up further on the arm) site, and the vein blows, you can't start one further down since any fluid will have to flow past the injured site.
Another reason is that the veins in the hand are not deep, are usually fairly straight, and are splinted in place by the bones of the hand. For IVs that are delivering a small flow of medication, a smaller IV catheter can be used.
Many people complain that an IV in the hand hurts worse than in the arm, since the hand has more nerves than the arm.
Veins in the upper forearm, especially the inner elbow (antecubital, or AC) can accommodate larger IV catheters. These are useful in emergencies when a patient has to be given large amounts of fluid to bring blood pressure up when a patient is in shock, or to administer blood products which don't work well with smaller catheters.
When someone is in a life or death situation, we will start at least two large bore IVs wherever we can find a large vein. That includes starting them in the foot, leg or even the neck. (Known as an external jugular, or EJ)
As far as the IV tubing goes, a tube sticking into a vein is pretty much going to be inconvenient no matter where you put it. In the hand, it tends to catch on things when you handle them, and in the arm, it interferes with clothing.
#phone fagging tonight. Thank you Anon, board is lagging tonight for me