Partner of Choice for Peripheral Cannulation Training

Selecting the right peripheral cannulation training partner can help healthcare teams maintain safe, consistent practice amid workforce pressures and evolving guidance. At East Surrey Hospital, a clinician-led partnership model underpins intravenous education with practical techniques and real-world learning.

Peripheral cannulation is a high-volume, high-impact skill. Ensuring every practitioner applies evidence aligned technique, skin asepsis, optimal device selection and placement, and appropriate flushing, supports dwell time and reduces complications. Yet onboarding, rotation, and time constraints can fragment training and make it difficult to deliver “the right training, at the right time, to the right clinician”. Ward realities also mean that classroom learning must translate seamlessly to practice.

East Surrey Hospital’s Clinical Skills Team set out to provide consistent, confidence building cannulation training for a multidisciplinary audience, from doctors and nurses to nursing assistants, radiographers, and midwives. They looked for a partner able to align with local priorities, adapt formats, and demonstrate techniques in a way that resonates with frontline staff.

Partnership in practice

Working alongside the Clinical Skills Team, BD Clinical Specialist Rhian Hale supports the intravenous study day and delivers Objective Structured Clinical Examination (OSCE) style demonstrations of BD solutions used at East Surrey. Sessions focus on skin antisepsis, integrated cannula placement, and flushing techniques, tying product instructions for use to day-to-day decision making and patient safety. The approach balances classroom teaching with ward-based and refresher sessions, acknowledging that not every clinician can access training in the same way or at the same time.

The collaboration is designed to be relaxed, relatable, and practical, using real clinical scenarios from vascular access management to anchor learning. Crucially, the BD team works with the hospital to align messaging to local goals, ensuring consistency across cohorts and reinforcing best practice over time.

What’s been achieved

Since the programme began in 2023, the Clinical Skills Team and BD have trained 449 healthcare professionals across East Surrey Hospital. In the last year alone, 196 staff received training through a blend of eLearning support, classroom teaching, and word-based sessions. Leaders report positive shifts in cannulation best practice and sustained attention to safe, high-quality care.

The team consistently demonstrates exceptional professionalism, in-depth knowledge, and a genuine willingness to support… The knowledge and skills shared have made a meaningful impact.” — Manazi Aleyas, Practice Development Lead, Clinical Skills.

Key takeaways

• A flexible partnership helps deliver the right training at the right time.
• OSCE style demonstrations translate guidance into bedside practice.
• Blended formats (classroom, ward-based, refresher, eLearning) reach more staff.
• Consistent messaging supports patient safety and standardised practice.

If your organisation is exploring a partner- of-choice model for peripheral cannulation training, our clinical specialists can collaborate with your education team to align content, format, and outcomes to local priorities. Learn more or request a conversation with the BD education team.

BD-172726 (06/26)