ER DUI Blood Draw Process

[gwputman]

I am in the process of writing a policy for our ER for when we have to do BA blood draws for law enforcement. If any of you have an example of your policy from your facility, that might help me out.

Thanks,

Greg

[emtb2rn, BSN, RN, EMT-B]

Contact your local prosecutor's office for details.

In my ed the leo provides a sealed container with all paperwork needed, an order is entered for legal bloods, the draw is done by a phleb (never a nurse) with the leo watching, the labs then sealed in the container & taken by the leo for their folks to process. That's it. All about preserving the chain of custody.

[Boomer MS, RN]

Contact your local prosecutor's office for details.

In my ed the leo provides a sealed container with all paperwork needed, an order is entered for legal bloods, the draw is done by a phleb (never a nurse) with the leo watching, the labs then sealed in the container & taken by the leo for their folks to process. That's it. All about preserving the chain of custody.

This was my experience as well. The officer(s) supplied all the materials and paperwork: my name, time, from where the blood was drawn, etc. I never was out of the officer's sight during the procedure. I never prepped the site with alcohol; the provided materials avoided anyone saying the blood was tainted by the RN's mistake. I never had to testify in court over one of these draws, but several of my colleagues were notified. They told me they ignored those notices to appear! I sat on a "drunk driving" jury once, and the attorney went over and over the chain of custody, among other things. Why I was allowed to sit on that kind of jury baffled me.

I do not know what "leo" is. Can you clarify? I think it would be helpful to have a sample of the paperwork available for anyone, especially for first time nurses, to look it over before needing to draw the blood.

[Twinmom06, ASN, APN]

LEO = Law enforcement officer - in some places its police (local or state) in someplaces its sheriffs or constables.

[Boomer MS, RN]

LEO = Law enforcement officer - in some places its police (local or state) in someplaces its sheriffs or constables.

DUH. Never heard that acronym before. I've drawn blood for deputy sheriffs, police and highway patrol officers. Thanks for cluing me in!

[canoehead, BSN, RN]

Our policy is to call the lab and put them in the hot seat. It makes sense, because they are the blood draw experts.

[Boomer MS, RN]

Our policy is to call the lab and put them in the hot seat. It makes sense, because they are the blood draw experts.

Well, there you go....One institution's policy. Many ED RNs I worked with would have loved to have been spared the blood draw, mostly because of the anticipation of being called to testify in court.. The four EDs where I worked always required an RN to draw the sample. I would not say that the phlebotomists are any more of a "blood draw expert" that an ED RN, at least in my experience.