Faculty and clinicians collaborate to teach basic intravenous skills to senior baccalaureate nursing students

Faculty in baccalaureate programs must adapt their curricula to meet the needs of students entering health care settings where rapid change means increased responsibility for the staff nurse. One of these changes is in the area of intravenous therapy, where it has become an expectation that staff nurses perform peripheral IV starts. In response to this need, faculty at Boston College School of Nursing chose to develop an IV Therapy Practicum by collaborating with IV nurse specialists from The Lahey Clinic. This practicum was incorporated into the senior-level Synthesis Clinical Course, for which students are mentored by a baccalaureate-prepared nurse preceptor.