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I have never heard of such a practice and never seen anything published in any form about such practice, including textbooks from the American Association of Blood Banks. My concern would be that some of the anticoagulant additives to the unit of blood might not be acceptable for arterial infusion. I would want to see literature supporting this practice before I did it. And would probably opt for investigating intraosseus infusion before intraarterial infusion. But I would have to also investigate why you are having these situations. Is this a patient just admitted to the ED without prior venipuncture attemtps presenting with many other factors that limit vein available? Intraosseus infusion is well suited for these situations. Or is this occuring in hospitalized patients that have had numerous venipuncture attempts from unskilled nurses. This is known as vein wasting and/or poor planning for vascular access and can be prevented through employing more highly skilled infusion nurses and the use of infrared light or ultrasound devices for locating veins. Lynn