New Tech Requirements

[NurseNae]

I have heard recently that techs will be in charge of lab work in California!  I think this is lunacy! 

...so now the RN can't put down the box of Godiva and get up from her station to do a draw?!

I think is a bad move and I see so many problems in the future.

Nae

[KR Cincy]

Us homies do our own lab draws weekly or monthly, and that was after 12 days of training, so techs should be ok doing it.

[Redbomb]

I've personally never heard of an RN drawing blood.  Every time I've ever had blood drawn it's always been by a Lab Tech.

[Adam_W]

At my old centre, techs did everything that nurses did as far as direct patient care was concerned, except for administering meds. Even if a patient just wanted some Tylenol, it had to be given by a nurse. Techs did push heparin, but a nurse had to draw it. Techs always drew labs, and techs accessed catheters. In fact, I was kind of surprised to find out that in a lot of units only nurses could access catheters. One time however, a tech started to access my catheter without a mask on, and she got ripped up one side and down the other for that. When I started home hemo, after two weeks of training, I was accessing my own catheter (when I still had it), drawing my own labs, and administering my own drugs (IV heparin and subq Epogen), and if I have anything to say about it, I always will.

Adam

[Jannie]

At my center, the techs do just about everything. EXCEPT a nurse always comes to listen to my chest with a stethoscope, and to inject the medications into my dialysis line. I get Epogen and Hectorol.  Other than that, the techs do everything. There is usually one to three RNs available.