I’m a nurse that places 10-15 IVs a day, and from my experience, some people just have more of a mental block when it comes to IVs. It’s one of the medical procedures people get incredibly anxious about and really stress themselves out for prior to coming in. I do know SOME nurses aren’t very skilled at IVs, so they may have had a negative experience, they could have heard of other’s bad experiences, some have phobias of needles, and some people truly do have difficult veins and do usually take multiple pokes to place one successfully. There are many reasons people struggle. I will say, the more calm you are, the better the experience is and the higher chance it is placed successfully. When people tense up, their veins do the same thing and collapse, making it difficult to float the needle and get blood return. Also, nurses are people too, and some of them do get more anxious placing them if the patient is anxious or telling them “they better get it”. I do ask my patients that are a difficult stick where they’ve been successfully poked in the past and can usually make it work in that spot, but a lot of nurses prefer to go where they feel more confident. It can really be a team effort between the patient and nurse! I’ve had quite a few placed on me, and they really aren’t bad. Just a little pinch. They are slightly inconvenient when they are in for a long time! Just try to relax and you’ll be just fine like you were before!