Vascular Access for Children Needing Procedures

* Abbreviation: miniMAGIC — : Michigan Appropriateness Guide for Intravenous Catheters in pediatrics Interventional radiologists, nurse practitioners, anesthesiologists, and surgeons are often involved in securing vascular access for children. Traditionally our roles have been focused on central venous access, but increasingly we are called on for patients with difficult intravenous access or to provide longer-term peripheral access. At times, decisions to involve us occur as a “plan B,” after repeated failure to secure other access or after early failure of multiple peripheral intravenous lines. Vascular access decisions are often left to junior staff, occur after hours, and can be seen by treating teams as inconsequential and unimportant. Traditional silos of practice have not helped in this approach. Pediatric vascular access is often an orphan child, with no coordinating family of practitioners. Vascular access is emerging as a subspecialty domain, involving nursing, surgical, anesthetic, and interventional radiologic skills. Who those practitioners are is less important than ensuring they have the … Address correspondence to Craig A. McBride, FRACS, Surgical Team: Infants, Toddlers, Children, Queensland Children’s Hospital, 501 Stanley St, South Brisbane, QLD 4101, Australia. E-mail: craig.mcbride@health.qld.gov.au