title: Venous envy: the post-World War II debate over IV nursing.
abstract: After World War II, a debate ensued over whether nurses should perform intravenous (IV) therapy. The debate was resolved by permitting nurses to do venipunctures as physicians' agents and by recirculating the familiar tautology: if nurses were already doing venipunctures, they must be simple enough for nurses to do. The vein was a portal of entry for nurses, but one with limited access. What was ultimately ceded to nurses was not full jurisdiction over a domain of nursing practice, but rather a limited settlement in a domain of medical practice. The debate over IV therapy demonstrated how technology, in combination with ideology, can both create and destroy nursing jurisdictions.
authors.affiliation: School of Nursing, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, USA.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Sandelowski
mesh_terms: D005260:Female; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D007262:Infusions, Intravenous / Q000451:nursing; D013677:Medical Laboratory Science; D018962:Phlebotomy / Q000451:nursing; D017009:Professional Autonomy; D011361:Professional Competence; D013041:Specialties, Nursing; D014481:United States; D014857:Warfare; D014931:Women, Working