Patient Care Assistants

[Linda B.]

Hello fellow posters:

I am new to this forum, so be patient if I'm not up to par on my posting. I need some information from Ohio nurses regarding the rules and laws governing Patient Care Assistants in Ohio hospitals. Are they allowed to insert indwelling Foley catheters into male patients? I have scoured the Ohio Board of Nursing Regs., but there isn't anything that specifically relates to catheter insertions. Any help that you can give me would be appreciated, and I look forward to being a member of this forum. Thank you so much,

Linda B. RN, CLNC :)

[unknown99, BSN, RN]

I work at a hospital in ohio, and the patient care assistants are not allowed to do any invasive procedure, or give meds.

[RevBKPrince]

I think that the regulations of PCA/PCT/STNA in Hospitals would depend upon each individual facility. The variation on skills performed is as wide as the number of training programs. As an STNA, I have looked into several different PCA programs, some teach phlebotomy, cath placement, ekg's. . . and some just teach STNA skills. . . and it's the same with hospitals. . . from what I've seen. Some will allow PCAs to insert caths/draw blood/terminate iv's ( that sorta freaked me out as a patient, when I heard a nurse say to another staffer, hey, you're an aide, right? Go take out his IV. . . I about had a cow. . . but that's another story. Check with your individual hospital, because skills vary.:imbar