A standard sterile technique should be employed. The appropriate site is located, and if the patient is awake, although not mandatory, a local anesthetic can be injected into the site. The procedure is usually well-tolerated in the awake patient.[13]

The needle is placed perpendicular to the bone with special attention in the pediatric population, to avoid the epiphyseal plate. In pediatric placement, placement should be in the medial proximal tibia similar to the adult, but 1 cm distal to the tibial tuberosity.[10] Once the needle contracts the bone with the needle, a hard stop is felt, at least 5 mm of the needle should be visible above the skin to allow for penetration of the medullary space, if not, then choose a longer needle or a site with less soft tissue covering the bone. This scenario may occur with the obese patient, where the proximal tibial site is likely to be shallower.

Confirm placement of the IO needle by checking for the stability of needle in bone, aspiration of marrow, ability to flush with saline, and good IV flow rates. The inability to aspirate does not always indicate poor placement. If this occurs, continue with a saline flush and attempt aspiration again.

After needle insertion, flush with 5 to 10 cc normal saline for adults, and 2 to 5 ml for infants and children. Patients may have severe pain when flushing with saline. The Injection of 2% intravenous lidocaine 20 to 40 mg or 0.5 mg/kg pediatric dose into the IO needle for relief of injection pain has been advocated, but with mixed results on pain resolution.[14][15] Allow the Lidocaine 2 minutes to take effect before flushing.

Stabilization of the needle differs with each device used but is mandatory to avoid inadvertently dislodging or bending the IO needle.

Document date and time of placement of the IO to ensure it will be in use less than 24 hours. Following the obtaining of adequate IV access, the IO device should be removed and bandaged.

The inability to inject at the site indicates incomplete penetration of the needle through the cortex into the medullary space. This situation will be apparent due to the inability to flush with saline. Drilling deeper will resolve this problem.

Extravasation of fluid occurs secondary to drilling through the posterior cortex, placing an IO in a fracture site or in the bone that was previously accessed or at a recent orthopedic surgical site; this can cause compartment syndrome as well as the usual soft tissue complications similar to venous infiltration, depending on the product infused.

In the pediatric population, epiphyseal plate necrosis is avoidable by ensuring an IO insertion site is away from the epiphyseal plate.

Other complications include fracture, cellulitis, osteomyelitis, fat embolism, and inability to remove a bent IO needle. A bent needle may require surgical removal.[16][17]

IO access is fast and reliable with few complications and can be accomplished rather easily in the pre-hospital setting, with bedside training and by nursing staff and physicians.[18] IV access is the preferred route, but nurses and physicians should not delay IO access in emergent situations if IV access is limited or will delay care.

Intraosseous aspiration of blood is usable for laboratory tests. The first aspirate does not need to be discarded.[19] Studies vary on the accuracy of these results on hemodynamically stable and unstable animal sources. More comprehensive and standardized human studies in hemodynamically stable and unstable patients are needed to prove correlations with standard venous sampling - this is also true regarding the need to validate the values in point of care rapid testing. Following the obtaining of IV access, laboratory data should be repeated, ensuring accurate results.[2]

Animal studies have shown expected values for blood gases, hematocrit, creatinine, sodium, and creatinine kinase in stable and hemorrhagic swine, but lactate and glucose values vary.[1] Potassium values seem to be generally higher in IO samples compared with arterial and venous values in several studies.[20] Blood typing is accurate even after blood transfusion through an IO device in a patient in shock, allowing type and crossing to be performed even after emergent transfusion.[21]

Intraosseous access has been available to the medical community since 1922 and has had limited use since the advent of intravenous catheters.[13] However, when there is difficulty establishing IV access, members of the interprofessional healthcare team must be familiar and facile with establishing and utilizing IO access to deliver life-saving interventions. Rapid access to deliver life-saving medications is vital to improve morbidity and mortality. Comfort levels in its use in the prehospital and hospital environments have been low despite its proven effectiveness and superiority to the intravenous route in many clinical settings. IO access can be accomplished by training pre-hospital personnel, as well as all hospital physicians and nursing staff. For IO to serve as a useful life-saving tool to its full extent, the entire health care team, including the operating room and inpatient staff, needs to be educated. Unfortunately, to this date, only small case series [Level 5] have been conducted to try and increase training and comfort level in establishing IO access.[22] Other studies have been attempting to draw stress correlations between the individual and team performances. They have shown those who are more confident and less stressed perform better in establishing IO access.[23] [Level 5] Prehospital personnel, all hospital physicians, nursing staff, and pharmacists must be aware of the speed, ease of access, and ability to infuse any mediation or fluids through an IO needle. Much work needs to be done with IO access within the medical community to educate and elevate the comfort level of the entire health care team to that of a standard of an intravenous device. When all members of the interprofessional team are operating from the same playbook, better outcomes will result when IO access is necessary. [Level 5]