Vascular Access: from Stone Age to Space Age

Nancy Riley RN, CRNI is currently employed as the Vascular Access Specialist (PICC nurse) at Wilford Hall Medical Center, the military's largest hospital facility at Lackland Air Force Base, San Antonio, TX. She has been a practicing nurse for over 30 years with the last 10 spent placing PICC lines, and the last four of those using ultrasound guidance. She currently places in excess of 400 lines per year with a capture rate in excess of 96% of both adult and pediatric populations. Additionally she consults for a major PICC products manufacturer, teaching both nurses and physicians PICC placement techniques with the use of ultrasound.