Heeeeyyyy, Nice Veins!

Another handy-dandy hint: Don’t abbreviate “jugular veins” to “jugs”.

Careful not to conflate the EJ vein and the IJ vein. JVP is easily assessed in the IJ vein as long as your light source is casting the right shadows. (A flashlight may be helpful.) The IJ vein sits deep to the SCM muscle and does not run across it.

JVP can sometimes be assessed in the EJ but is less reliable and not recommended. The vein’s size is smaller so smaller changes in pressure are relatively less visible. And, 25% of so of the population has a valve sitting between the EJ vein and the right ventricle, meaning that pressure in the vein will be artificially higher than the true right ventricular pressure you seek to measure. It’s the EJ vein that crosses superficial to the SCM muscle.

Common to all front-line health-care workers. I scope out the veins of the peeps around me in the grocery-store lines. Where are all those nice juicy veins when you need ‘em?

That’s true- saying “I stuck her in the jugs” means something totally different than “I started an IV in the EJ.”