Can Nursing student working in a Doctors office draw blood?

[kgl22]

I am a third year BSN nursing student with 2 years clinical experience and I give meds and injections in clinical. I just got a job in a internal medicine doctors office. I have learned the technique of taking blood but have never done it (apparently you dont learn that in nursing school)

The doctor is willing to teach me, but I was wondering if there is any liability issue there.

I was going to post this on the students forum but I wasn't sure if id get a good answer.

[fromtheseaRN, BSN, RN]

i am also a nursing student, and volunteer at clinic.

i do not draw blood, although we learned it in school and i do it in clinicals. i am not licensed to do so, and do not want to take any risks in losing my ability to become licensed, getting sued, or getting kicked out of school (we've had students do things outside of clinicals and they've been booted from the program). if you perform a procedure, you are liable for it.

i would ask your instructors, to be safe.

[ChristineN, BSN, RN]

I don't see a problem with performing phlebotomy, provided the office provides you with proper training. At the hospitals I have work unlicensed personnel are allowed to perform blood draws as long as they were properly trained to do so. In this role, you are not acting as a nursing student under your school rules but are acting as some sort of unlicensed assistant personnel and therefore can provide the tasks of such.

[sethmctenn]

Rules vary state by state. In my state, you do not have to be licensed to draw blood. CMAs and lab assistants often do it.

[NoviceRN10]

You don't usually need to have a license or certification to draw blood. The nurse aides in my hospital do it all the time, as well as start IVs.

[fromtheseaRN, BSN, RN]

You don't usually need to have a license or certification to draw blood. The nurse aides in my hospital do it all the time, as well as start IVs.

really?!? here, that is out of their scope of practice and a huge no-no, nurse aides do not do any invasive procedure whatsoever. crazy how much these things vary from state to state.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

In many states you don't have to be licensed to do that or a variety of other "skills" as long as you have been trained to do so and are receiving physician approval. Take the job. Sounds like cake.

[nursing assit. 2010]

You are not aloud to draw blood even though your trained to do it. If something goes wrong with the patient and your not certified you will not be able to become a nurse or anything.

[Bandaide, ADN]

California and one other state in the south that I can't remember are (as of 2 years ago) the only ones that require any certification to draw blood. I started working as a phlebotomist over 3 years ago, and I worked with many nursing students who were on our Phlebotomy service. Since it is not a skill restricted to nurses by the nurse practice act, you would not be in violation by drawing blood. However, if your program restricts you from drawing blood while on clinicals they can dismiss you for doing so. They should not be able to control if you do it outside their program as long as you do not represent yourself as being trained to do blood draws by the program. In many states, a person is allowed to draw blood as long as the provider/agency who employs them feels that they are competent to do so, no specific training required.

If you are interested in having the skills, find a phlebotomy course to take outside of your nursing program.

[nursel56]

In California if you have a nurse's license you can get a Blood Withdrawal Certification but it doesn't mean you can't draw blood if you don't. I worked in a doctor's office and learned phlebotomy before I took the course for the certification.

Also, there is no certification requirement to be a "medical assistant" in California. A physician might require that someone finish an MA course, his or her malpractice carrier may require it, but the strict letter of the law means that anyone can be hired and trained to draw blood in a doctor's office.

There are always legal twists and turns it seems, based on the education someone may already have going in, so the best thing to do is check with your state board of nursing.

[ImThatGuy, BSN, RN]

The question referred to drawing blood as an employee and not a nursing student on a rotation. Obviously you can't in CA, as one poster noted, but you should be golden anywhere else.

[mentalhealthRN]

How can it be legal anywhere for someone who is not a nurse to put in IVs-- phlebotomy is taking out blood but IVs are putting something in--and by in I mean you have to at least put in NS to assure you have a patient line. Just curious how that is legal.