DRE by Nursing

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I have a question that I am needing clarification on. In school I was taught that only physicians should perform digital rectal exams and the facility I currently work at is wanting DRE's to be performed by nursing prior to starting thrombolytics. I have searched the net and I am unable to find any literature. Can you guys/girls point me in a direction for the answer. Thanks!

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Hm, what facility?

In my experience, these are only performed by providers (MDs, NPs, etc). What would be the purpose of a nurse performing a DRE? The nurse cannot "diagnose," per se, so I'm not clear on the purpose of the assessment.

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