Skip to contents
In This Issue:
Patients of the Vein Care Center are seeing the brighter side of treatment, thanks to the Vein Viewer and the way it identifies and highlights veins using infrared light. This innovative technology renders veins more visible and accessible for drawing blood and inserting IVs.
“For many patients, we make several attempts to find a vein,” said Richard Baum, MD, chief of the Division of Angiography and Interventional Radiology. “The Vein Viewer puts these patients at ease by ensuring we know just where their veins are located before inserting a needle.”
Patients with chronic illness who regularly need blood drawn, children with small, inaccessible veins and patients with varicose veins are among those who benefit from this technology. Cancer patients undergoing chemotherapy, for example, require regular blood sampling and constant manipulation of IVs, which causes their veins to shrink and scar. This damage makes it more difficult to access the veins, but the Vein Viewer shows their location and size, allowing doctors and nurses to determine how to provide the most effective care.
“The Vein Viewer is easy to use, and it helps keep patients calm,” said Rita Ferris, RN, Cardiovascular Division, who was involved in the Vein Viewer implementation at BWH last November.
BWH’s Vein Care Center, the largest center of its kind at any hospital in the country, last fall was selected by DioMed, Inc. of Andover, as one of six hospitals in the U.S. and the only hospital in the Northeast to receive the Vein Viewer. After a prototype trial in the Recovery Room, the Vein Viewer this spring was moved to the Vein Care Center in Newton.
This fall, the Vein Viewer returns to BWH’s main campus, where doctors, nurses and other staff will use it to access veins and quell patients’ fears.
“This device will improve the lives of many of our patients and ultimately allow us to uphold our commitment to patient satisfaction,” Baum said
A More Detailed View: Did you know that the Vein Viewer…?