Can Phlebotomists Do Arterial Blood Draws?
I had to go to the ER and the nurses had a hard time finding a vein so they had to call a specialist to do an arterial draw. I was told that "it might suck", but I actually found it to be more tolerable for me than the typical blood draw through vein in arm.
When I went to my regular blood lab, I asked if they can do that and the phlebotomist there said no and that they only do venipuncture. Who is qualified to do arterial blood draws?
Comments
Arterial blood draws carry serious risk potentials and so most of the time because of that risk an OK is needed from the doctor before licensed personnel that are trained in such procedures and under their scope of practice are allowed to perform. No permission is needed for testing requiring arterial blood because it is implicit by the test that permission is given to obtain a sample such as an arterial blood gas. Phlebotomist are not trained nor have a license to perform arterial blood collection. It isn't in their scope of practice.
The specialist they were talking about are the respiratory therapists who collect arterial blood samples all of time. Collecting blood from an artery is completely different than collecting blood from a vein and it does require some expertise. It is the last resort because of the risk.
No. A phlebotomist cannot do arterial draws.
Well, if they had to call someone to do it, and the phlebotomist said they can't do it, then obviously, they can't do it.