I was recently in Cincinnati and saw a friend who is a Registered Nurse. She has practiced for many years as a Clinical Vascular Access Specialist. She specializes in the placement of intravenous lines (IVs).
The placement of IVs is important in many medical treatments and is a critical live saving skill in adult, pediatric, infant, and neonatal patients in an emergency.
The inability to obtain vascular access (an intravenous line) in an emergency can be life threatening.
Vascular specialists are experts at the above.
Long term vascular access for outpatient daily antibiotic treatment can require a peripherally inserted central catheter (PICC line). This procedure is a procedure regularly performed by RN Vascular Access Specialists.
There are a number of mobile services in Ohio and throughout the national that employ RN Vascular Specialists to go in to nursing homes and place PICC lines on site.
These mobile services are basically staffing services that subcontract with Vascular Access Specialists to service the client accounts these services have developed.
The problem that my friend says she has noted with these services is that often the contracts that are offered the Vascular Access Specialists are very one sided.
My friend would like to start her own service under a more collegial model. She and her colleagues would be partners in the business rather than independent contractors which is a very unfavorable relationship for the employee.
Knowing of my interest in and involvement in entrepeneurship and in startups, she asked me to meet with her and discuss her proposed project.
She is a friend of many years and I was glad to discuss her project with her.
I called her and told her I would be glad to help her in any way I can.
Because I am currently involved in three startups in various stages of development, I can’t partner with her.
However, because she is a friend, I told her that I would be glad to help her get started at no cost. I can, for example design and build a website for her for free.
In Resource (2) below I linked to a mobile vascular access website that I could build for my friend.
And I will be glad to give her free consulting on marketing and staffing, and other aspects of a startup.
One of the biggest costs of a vascular access service in the past would have been the ultrasound scanner that is necessary to begin the service.
I believe that the new Butterfly IQ portable ultrasound system would be great for a vascular access service although I have not yet used it for that purpose. I have included a link to the Butterfly IQ site in Resource
When she is ready to go forward, she will email, call, or text me. We will meet via Skype and work together.
Additional Resources:
(1) Association For Vascular Access
The Association for Vascular Access (AVA) is an organization of healthcare professionals founded in 1985 to support and promote the specialty of vascular access. The mission of AVA is to lead healthcare by protecting patients and providers to improve lives. Today, its multidisciplinary membership advances research, provides professional and public education to shape practice and enhance patient outcomes, and partners with the device manufacturing community to bring about evidence-based innovations in vascular access.
(2) Vital Line PICC and Services
*Please note that this is not an affiliate link.
And here are the links from the website:
