The VISION STUDY: Variation In Success of Intravenous (IV) Placement With Observation Using New Techniques

Children fear having an intravenous (IV) needle placed because of the pain that they will experience. The more needle punctures that a child has to endure before the IV is successfully placed, the greater the pain experienced and anxiety suffered. In addition, false starts increase the demands on medical staff and can increase the length of the emergency department stay. Often, veins are difficult to see or feel, particularly in an unwell, dehydrated child or in young infants who have more fat below the skin surface. Also, the venous pattern below the skin surface naturally varies from person to person and therefore success in placing IVs leaves room for improvement. Technology may be able to play an important role is improving the rates of success. The investigators investigated whether the use of either an Ultrasound machine or a VeinViewer machine can improve the rate of success of the initial attempt (skin puncture) at peripheral IV placement in comparison to the current standard approach.