I
f you use IV start
kits, you might
be wasting
money with every
catheter you place.
Our IV start kits con-
tained a number of
items we never used,
including povidone-
iodine prep pads,
Tegaderm and gauze.
We were amazed
when we compared
the cost of an IV start
kit ($1.80) with the
individual cost of the
items we actually
used from the kit: an
alcohol swab, a tourniquet and a single piece of tape (9¢). We stopped
using IV start kits in 2015, a year in which we started 1,762 IVs on
patients. In that year alone, we saved $3,013.02 simply by ditching the
IV start kits.
Brandi Cunningham, RN, BSN, BA, MHA, MBA
Piedmont Outpatient Surgery Center
Winston-Salem, N.C.
bcunningham@piedmontosc.com
J U L Y 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 1 1
LESS IS MORE
Ditch the IV Start Kits and Save
• STRIPPED DOWN The IV start kit contained 7 items when all we used was an
alcohol swab, a tourniquet and a piece of tape (above).
Piedmont
Outpatient
Surgery
Center
BEFORE
AFTER