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Wavelength Academy · Vascular access

Ultrasound-guided vascular access: peripheral, central and arterial

Learn to place peripheral lines, check a central line guidewire and place a radial arterial line with ultrasound. Centre the vein, use a light hand, stop at the near wall, rescue a catheter that will not thread and see the wire before you dilate.

  • 1.5 hours CPD
  • 5 lessons
  • 5 cases
  • 16-question assessment
  • Pass mark 80%
  • Free

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What you will learn

  • Choose when ultrasound helps most for peripheral cannulation and prepare the limb and the image
  • Tell a vein from an artery with compression, and use colour and spectral Doppler with their limits
  • Avoid a posterior wall puncture and rescue a catheter that will not thread, using short and long axis
  • Confirm that a guidewire lies inside the internal jugular vein, in two views, before you dilate
  • Place a radial arterial line by choosing a straight segment and rescuing in long axis

Lessons

  1. Why ultrasound, and what it will and will not do12 min
  2. Peripheral lines: set up, choose the vein and centre the dot16 min
  3. The needle: near wall, back wall, threading and the flush test16 min
  4. Central lines: see the wire before you dilate14 min
  5. Arterial lines: the radial artery in a shocked patient12 min
  6. Cases10 min
  7. Final assessment: 16 questions, pass mark 80%10 min

Who it is for

Emergency and acute care doctors, advanced clinical practitioners, nurses and others who place, or are training to place, vascular access with ultrasound under their trust's governance.

Your certificate

Pass the assessment and we email your certificate as a PDF: your name, the module, 1.5 hours of CPD, the date and a code anyone can check at thewavelength.co.uk/elearning/verify. Upload it to your e-portfolio with a short reflection. Wavelength issues the certificate itself. It is not accredited by an external body, so record the hours as self-directed CPD under your own college or regulator's rules. The certificate records completed learning. Sign-off to scan independently stays with your department.

About this module

Author. Dr Firas Abou-Auda, Consultant in Emergency Medicine and Course Director, Wavelength.
Published. October 2026. Next review. October 2028.
Conflicts of interest. Dr Firas Abou-Auda is Course Director of Wavelength, which runs paid ultrasound courses.

References

  1. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. Ultrasound guidance for peripheral intravenous cannulation in adults. 2022; CD013434.
  2. Franco-Sadud R, Schnobrich D, Mathews BK, et al. Recommendations on the use of ultrasound guidance for central and peripheral vascular access in adults: a position statement of the Society of Hospital Medicine. Journal of Hospital Medicine. 2019.
  3. Lamperti M, Bodenham AR, Pittiruti M, et al. International evidence-based recommendations on ultrasound-guided vascular access. Intensive Care Medicine. 2012;38:1105-17.
  4. Gu W-J, Tie H-T, Liu J-C, Zeng X-T. Efficacy of ultrasound-guided radial artery catheterization: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Critical Care. 2014.
  5. Bahl A, et al. Survival of ultrasound-guided peripheral intravenous catheters by length of catheter in the vein. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2020 (as summarised by REBEL EM).
  6. Association of Anaesthetists. Safe vascular access. 2016.

Read the free Wavelength Pearl on this topic