Suturing - Do you do it?

[bluefabian]

Nurses in my country don't do this (not applicable to Delivery of course), and any suturing will be done by the doctor. Well, the least that I have done is either Glue stitch or steri-strip and nothing more. But not the invasive type.

How's the situation in US of A?

[LilgirlRN, ADN, RN]

Depends on what state your in as to if you can stitch up a patient. In Al you can't unless you have an advanced degree.... nurse practitioner. Or maybe if your some kinda whooptedo (no offense) nurse in surgery. I used to work nights in the ER, if it got crazy and the doc was tied up with a code or chest tube and someone came in with a squirter, might throw a stitch in to keep the bleeder closed till he/she could fix it themself.

[bluefabian]

Wow! Thanks for keeping an old thread alive.

What about liability? Since most suturing done in ER are not emergency procedures, would they be some kind of an issue if the wound turned out unpretty. I actually have some patient who commented on this after receiving some stitching from a medical assistant.