Pig bladders and feather quills: a history of vascular access devices

Vascular access is a requirement for many hospitalised patients. Over the years there have been many technological refinements and advances in the equipment used to provide this necessary procedure and subsequent treatments. This article will take a journey from the Renaissance period, the discovery of the circulatory system in the 15 th century, to the present day, and will give the reader a notion of the origins and subsequent development of intravenous therapy and devices used to deliver necessary treatments.