Here at LECOM, we will practice venipuncture, but not IV placement. The main difference is that when placing a catheter, there is a little more manual dexterity needed to get the catheter threaded neatly, and connected up without getting blood everywhere... and there is a touch of taping and securing involved. Otherwise, the parts that are actually hard are all the same.
Find a vein, insert a needle into the vein in such a way as to establish flow, without punching through the other side. That's basically it.
As others have said, getting supplies to practice with isn't hard. Finding opportunities to try in the OR or other clinical setting is a good plan, too. It is nice to want to get a learning opportunity for the whole class, but there are a lot of skills that are important to learn which aren't best learned on your classmates. Placing urinary catheters, for instance. Your school is of the opinion that letting you mangle each other's veins is one of those skills. You feel differently. It won't be too hard to find someone who agrees with you, and will join you in giving each other track marks and tourniquet-induced ischemia.
