8-Hour Instructor-Led USGPIV Training + Hands-On Skills & Competency Validation

Ultrasound-guided peripheral IV (USGPIV) access adds real-time visualization to peripheral vascular assessment and IV insertion. Instead of relying only on visualization and palpation, the clinician uses ultrasound to assess vascular anatomy, evaluate potential access sites, and guide the needle toward the selected vessel.

V Therapy for Today – Ultrasound-Guided Peripheral IV Access is an 8-hour, in-person training course designed for healthcare professionals who already have peripheral IV education and experience and are ready to develop ultrasound-guided vascular-access skills.

The course combines focused instruction, instructor demonstration, hands-on ultrasound scanning, simulated vascular access, deliberate skills practice, clinical decision-making, and individual competency validation.

Successful ultrasound-guided IV insertion requires more than finding a vessel on a screen.

The clinician must integrate vascular anatomy, ultrasound image interpretation, vessel assessment, catheter selection, probe control, needle control, spatial orientation, infection-prevention practices, and continuous awareness of the needle tip.

PAHE's USGPIV course is structured to develop these skills progressively.

Participants move from learning how to acquire and interpret an ultrasound image to coordinating the probe and needle during simulated ultrasound-guided peripheral vascular access.

This course is intended for healthcare professionals with prior peripheral IV education and insertion experience, whose professional scope of practice and employer or facility policies permit peripheral IV insertion and ultrasound-guided vascular access.

Participants may include:

• Registered Nurses (RNs)
• Licensed Vocational Nurses (LVNs), when permitted by applicable scope and employer policy
• Advanced Practice Registered Nurses (APRNs)
• Physician Assistants (PAs)
• Physicians
• Paramedics
• Other appropriately licensed healthcare professionals whose scope and employer policies permit the procedure

This is not an introductory IV insertion course.

Participants who need foundational peripheral IV education should complete IV Therapy for Today – Basic or comparable peripheral IV training before enrolling.

Build the clinical foundation for ultrasound-guided peripheral vascular access.

Topics include:

• Role of ultrasound in peripheral vascular access
• Difficult intravenous access considerations
• Appropriate use of ultrasound guidance
• Upper-extremity vascular anatomy
• Peripheral veins, arteries, and surrounding structures
• Patient and procedural considerations
• Infection-prevention principles
• Clinical limitations and safety considerations
• Relationship between education, skills validation, and workplace competency

Learn how the ultrasound system creates an image and how probe movement changes what appears on the screen.

Participants work with the SonoQue L3 handheld linear ultrasound probe and develop foundational scanning skills.

Topics include:

• Basic ultrasound principles
• Linear transducer orientation
• Probe marker and screen orientation
• Depth
• Gain
• Image optimization
• Probe pressure and positioning
• Transverse and longitudinal views
• Basic ultrasound terminology
• Hand-eye coordination
• Translating two-dimensional images into three-dimensional spatial awareness

Finding a vessel is only the beginning. Participants learn to evaluate whether a vessel is appropriate for peripheral access.

Topics include:

• Systematic vessel scanning
• Vein versus artery identification
• Compressibility
• Vessel depth
• Vessel diameter
• Vessel course and trajectory
• Identification of surrounding structures
• Access-site assessment
• Catheter length considerations
• Selecting an appropriate vessel and access approach
• Planning the insertion before introducing the needle

Participants practice scanning and evaluating simulated vessels before progressing to needle-guidance activities.

In the short-axis view, the vessel is visualized in cross-section.

Participants learn the relationship between the ultrasound beam, vessel, needle, and needle tip while developing dynamic probe-and-needle coordination.

Training emphasizes:

• Short-axis vessel imaging
• Out-of-plane needle approach
• Needle entry planning
• Probe and needle alignment
• Dynamic needle-tip localization
• Maintaining awareness of needle-tip position
• Recognizing loss of needle-tip visualization
• Controlled advancement toward the vessel
• Simulated vessel entry
• Catheter advancement

A central principle of the course is reinforced throughout training:

Know where the needle tip is before advancing the needle.

Participants are also introduced to longitudinal vessel imaging and the in-plane needle approach.

Training includes:

• Obtaining and maintaining a long-axis vessel view
• Aligning the vessel with the ultrasound beam
• Needle and ultrasound-plane alignment
• In-plane needle visualization
• Recognizing the needle shaft versus needle tip
• Maintaining vessel and needle visualization
• Coordinating probe and needle movement
• Simulated vessel access and catheter advancement

Participants compare short-axis/out-of-plane and long-axis/in-plane approaches and learn how imaging technique affects needle visualization and procedural planning.

USGPIV proficiency requires the clinician to recognize when the image, vessel, needle, or planned approach is not appropriate and make a safe adjustment.

Topics include:

• Loss of vessel visualization
• Loss of needle-tip visualization
• Poor probe-to-needle alignment
• Excessive probe movement
• Inadequate image optimization
• Vessel compression
• Vessel movement
• Posterior vessel-wall concerns
• Difficulty advancing the catheter
• Reassessment after an unsuccessful attempt
• Recognition of potential complications
• Knowing when to stop, reassess, or select another approach

The goal is not simply to complete an insertion sequence, but to demonstrate controlled clinical decision-making throughout the procedure.

The final phase integrates the individual skills developed throughout the course.

Participants complete structured ultrasound-guided peripheral IV scenarios using ultrasound-compatible vascular-access phantoms.

The participant must bring together:

Patient/Procedure Assessment → Ultrasound Setup → Vessel Identification → Vessel Assessment → Access Planning → Probe Positioning → Needle Guidance → Needle-Tip Visualization → Simulated Vessel Access → Catheter Advancement → Confirmation & Reassessment

Instructor feedback is provided throughout deliberate practice before formal competency validation.

USGPIV is a psychomotor skill. For that reason, hands-on practice is an integral part of the course.

Participants practice:

• Operating the SonoQue L3
• Optimizing ultrasound images
• Probe orientation
• Transverse and longitudinal scanning
• Identifying simulated vascular structures
• Differentiating veins and arteries
• Assessing vessel compressibility
• Measuring or estimating vessel depth and diameter
• Selecting an appropriate simulated vessel
• Planning an insertion trajectory
• Coordinating probe and needle movement
• Short-axis/out-of-plane needle guidance
• Long-axis/in-plane needle guidance
• Needle-tip localization
• Simulated vessel entry
• Catheter advancement
• Troubleshooting unsuccessful approaches

Skills practice is performed using ultrasound-compatible vascular-access phantoms.

Invasive procedures are not practiced on classmates.

Course completion requires more than attendance.

Participants complete an instructor-observed skills assessment designed to evaluate the knowledge, technical behaviors, and clinical decision-making addressed during the course.

Competency-validation elements may include:

• Equipment setup
• Ultrasound image optimization
• Probe orientation and manipulation
• Vessel identification
• Vein-versus-artery differentiation
• Vessel assessment
• Access-site planning
• Catheter-selection considerations
• Infection-prevention practices
• Short-axis/out-of-plane technique
• Long-axis/in-plane technique
• Probe-to-needle coordination
• Needle-tip visualization
• Controlled needle advancement
• Simulated vessel access
• Catheter advancement
• Troubleshooting
• Complication recognition
• Clinical decision-making

Participants who do not initially meet required performance criteria may require additional practice and remediation before successful skills validation can be documented.

Participants who successfully complete the course requirements receive:

• 8 hours of instructor-led USGPIV education
• Hands-on ultrasound scanning experience
• Structured vascular-access simulation
• Instructor-guided deliberate practice
• Individual skills assessment
• USGPIV competency check-off
• Certificate of Completion
• Documentation of the simulation-based competency validation completed during the course

PAHE distinguishes education and simulation-based skills validation from authorization to independently perform a clinical procedure.

Successful completion of this course documents completion of PAHE's USGPIV educational program and the skills demonstrated in the course's simulated environment.

It does not independently:

• Expand a healthcare professional's legal scope of practice
• Grant clinical privileges
• Override employer or facility policies
• Replace employer-required competency validation
• Establish independent clinical competency with live patients

Healthcare professionals are responsible for practicing within their applicable scope of practice and organizational policies.

An employer or healthcare facility may require additional supervised clinical USGPIV insertions, precepted practice, clinical competency validation, credentialing, or other requirements before permitting independent ultrasound-guided peripheral IV insertion.

Participants should verify their employer's requirements before incorporating USGPIV insertion into clinical practice.