IV Start Kit Comparison: What Every Nursing Program Should Include

Every nursing program teaches students about intravenous therapy (IV) because it is critical to a nurse’s daily duties. Nurses in multiple healthcare settings and scenarios will administer various IV treatments through a patient’s veins, ranging from blood transfusions and fluid replacement to medication and nutrient administration. It all depends on the type of treatment they need for their current condition. 

The Essential Items of an IV Start Kit for a Nursing Program

An IV start kit contains the essential medical items needed for delivering treatment through an intravenous line. Below are the most critical items that need to be included in the IV start kits for any nursing program:

Sterile Gauzes 

Sterile gauzes are small, sterilized pads placed over an IV insertion site to absorb blood and prevent infection after inserting an IV or when changing the dressing. It ensures the site remains clean while reducing minor bleeding and the risk of infection. Every IV start kit should include some form of sterilized gauzes to protect the patient. 

Tourniquets

Tourniquets are flexible bands made of rubber or a similar material. The nurse wraps the tourniquet slightly above the IV insertion site to temporarily restrict blood flow in the veins passing through it. The tourniquet is placed before the IV insertion to locate suitable veins for drawing blood or administering nutrients or medication. 

Dressing

Dressings are sterilized transparent coverings placed over an IV insertion site, especially after an IV catheter has been inserted. They secure the IV catheter and protect the site from potential external threats, such as bacteria and dirt from the environment. Since the dressing is transparent, the nurse can monitor for any signs of problems or complications, such as swelling or redness of the insertion site.  

Alcohol Swabs or Pads

Nurses use alcohol swabs or pads to disinfect the skin of the IV insertion site before inserting the needle through the skin. The swabs or pads usually contain 70% isopropyl alcohol, which is suitable for reducing the threat of surface bacteria prone to causing infections. 

Sterile Nitrile Exam Gloves 

Every nurse must wear sterile nitrile exam gloves when administering any kind of IV therapy to a patient. The gloves are worn on the hands to prevent cross-contamination of germs, bacteria, or infection to the patient or nurse. Some medical gloves are made of latex, but students with latex allergies need a latex-free option like nitrile. 

Catheters

Catheters are small, thin, flexible plastic tubes inserted into the body to drain or deliver fluids, depending on the IV therapy needed. One end attaches to the IV bag or valve, while the other is connected to a needle inserted into the body. 

For example, IV catheters deliver nutrients, blood, or fluids into the patient’s vein, while urinary catheters drain urine from the patient’s bladder. Nurses must learn how to use all the various catheter types for treating patients in different scenarios.

Saline Filled Syringes

Saline-filled syringes are prefilled with sterile normal saline as a placebo for actual medication. Nursing students use saline-filled syringes to practice administering medication, fluids, or nutrients through an IV line into the patient’s vein. The saline is also used to flush the IV catheter and open the IV line to ensure all the medication can reach the patient’s bloodstream. 

Surgical Tape 

Nurses and medical professionals typically use medical-grade adhesive surgical tape to secure the IV line, dressing, or catheter during IV treatment. The tape is strong enough to secure the IV to prevent the accidental removal of the line, dressing, or catheter during the extraction or administration of fluids. 

Primary and Secondary IV lines

IV therapies typically use two sets of IV lines: the primary and the secondary. The primary IV line continuously delivers medications, nutrients, or fluids to the patient. The secondary IV line delivers irregular or intermittent doses of medication from a much smaller IV bag to the patient. The secondary IV line is connected to the primary line to support it. 

Needles

Needles are housed inside the catheters to be inserted into the patient’s skin and vein for IV therapeutic purposes. Since the needles don’t usually come attached to the catheters, your nursing students need a separate set of needles to insert into the catheters manually. Then, each time they finish using a needle, they must discard it in the proper medical waste container. 

Vials

Vials are small plastic or glass containers with medication in them. Of course, for your nursing students, you will have simulated vials with saline or other placebo fluid that is supposed to replicate a real medication. Your students will learn to use syringes to draw fluid from the vials and insert the fluid through the IV line into the patient’s vein.

IV Start Kit Comparisons

Different IV start kits are assembled based on the IV therapeutic procedures and scenarios taught to nursing students. Although the standardized items described above are in most IV start kits, some may have other items to accommodate more specific lesson plans. Nursing students must learn to use these items and kits to prepare for all clinical scenarios. 

Below, you will learn more about the differences between the most common IV start kits and when they should be used in your nursing program.

1) IV Insertion Kits

Standardized IV insertion kits contain all the necessary sterilized supplies and components to teach nursing students how to administer safe IV insertions into patients. Nursing students can practice basic IV insertion techniques involving IV lines, catheters, tourniquets, medical tape, gloves, and saline syringes. Knowing how to insert an IV is critical to every nursing student’s education because it will come in handy in virtually all clinical scenarios.  

Please note that IV insertion kits support the beginning of IV therapy but not its continuation. When you want to teach nursing students about continuous IV treatment, refer to the IV maintenance kit section next. 

2) IV Maintenance Kits

Standardized IV maintenance kits are specifically for continuous IV therapy treatment rather than temporary or short-term treatment. The medical supplies featured in an IV maintenance kit teach nursing students how to provide ongoing care and support to a patient's existing IV insertion site. Nursing students will also learn how to prevent infection, clogging, and infiltration of the insertion site using the supplies included in this kit. 

The typical supplies in an IV maintenance kit include IV lines, needles, pre-filled saline syringes, dressings, alcohol swabs, and sterilized gauzes. Nurses typically use these supplies when caring for patients at homes, clinics, and emergency rooms. When the IV is removed from the patient, the IV maintenance kits will help nurses continue to prevent infection until the site is protected and healed. Students must learn to do the same thing.  

3) University-Assembled IV Kits

Colleges and universities like to customize the IV kits for their nursing programs. School administrators and instructors select the best medical supplies to include in their IV kits based on their budget and nursing course curriculum. Some schools prefer having more control over their educational supplies, so they request these specialized kits. 

For example, the Sault College IV Maintenance Kit features all the essential items that the school’s instructors feel are necessary to teach its nursing students well. Another example is the Arizona College of Nursing IV Start Kit, with the tools to help novice nursing students learn faster and perform better. 

The primary differences between the various university-assembled IV kits are usually the quantity of the IV therapy items, such as the syringe saline doses, primary IV tubing, and secondary IV tubing.  

4) Custom Kits

Do you need to build a custom IV start kit for your nurses? If the standardized IV kits and university-assembled IV kits don’t contain all the medical supplies you need, then you are better off building a custom IV start kit with all the items required for your school’s nursing program. 

First, compile a digital list of all the medical supply items and quantities needed for your ideal IV start kit. Then, forward this list to a medical item supplier like Pristine Medical and request that they build a custom IV start kit. 

Conclusion

The quality and variety of your IV start kits will impact the learning and success of your nursing students. The best advice is to introduce multiple IV start kits into your school’s nursing program to give your students experience working with each one in various clinical scenarios. That way, your students will be confident enough to know which kits to use and how to use them when the appropriate scenario presents itself in a real-world clinical or hospital environment. 

Pristine Medical is one of the top suppliers of IV start kits and supplies for medical schools and nursing programs. You can find all the essential IV start kits and supplies you need to effectively teach your nursing programs and ensure the success of your nursing students.