RN collect blood samples in canada?

Pediatric Critical Care Columnist · Sep 18, 2014

Yes nurses in Canada give IV medications and draw blood samples. We are taught how to do both in nursing school.

loriangel14, RN · Sep 19, 2014

I am a Practical Nurse and i can do both.

eeenfermera · Oct 5, 2014

I have had both done by RNs and I believe LPNs are able to do so as well.

bonjoe07 · Oct 5, 2014

We do both as RN's, no extra course needed, just what you learned in school

Fiona59 · Oct 5, 2014

Just one more duty that management is attempting to add to our roles.

The lab does bloodwork rounds and can come down STAT for draws.

My hospital does an phlebotomy course and decided they wanted all the LPNs to do. On our own time. So far, I know of two who have done it.

sunship88 · Oct 6, 2014

Interesting...at my hospital we do IV therapy/insertion but never blood draws. The lab comes for all blood draws (if the patient has a PICC line we can take blood from the PICC). We did not learn blood draws in school and I never saw nurses doing it during any of my clinicals (RN in Vancouver, BC).

vintage_RN, BSN, RN · Oct 7, 2014

RPN in ontario here. I did the iv/venipuncture class almost as soon as I was hired. 3 witnessed starts/draws and I was certified. The lab techs do blood draws in the morning but if any other blood work is ordered stat during the day I have to do It and lab techs also won't do draws from central lines/piccs so I have to do that. I have to try to put in an IV twice before I call the iv nurse...and even then they still huff and puff about it.

wanderlustnurse88, RN · Nov 19, 2014

RN here I didn't learn how to do blood draws in school so I took a phlebotomy course when I got my first job. I work in a rural hospital, so we have a lab tech in the morning Mon-Fri and then on weekends or after lab tech has gone, we are it. And when you only have 3 staff on nights to draw blood (or start IVs - no IV team here), it can get tough if no one can get. We also are able to run our own blood work on a set of machines called point of care testing, so we can get immediate results for CBC, lyres, creatine, INR, lactate, urine, blood gases, LFTs. Otherwise it gets sent to the lab. It's a pretty handy system to use.