Bioingeniøren (Mar 2021)
Decentralization of blood sampling - increased need for training in the nursing program?
Abstract
At Norwegian hospitals biomedical laboratory scientists traditionally collects blood samples. New efficiency requirements have led to a task shift to other professions, such as nurses. Decentralization of venous blood sampling is an example of this. There is a lack of research on decentralization of venous blood sampling in Norway. The purpose of our study was to shed light on the topic from the nurses' perspective; focusing on whether the educational institutions for nursing facilitate topics such as blood sampling and preanalytical conditions. This is an important aspect as many nurses perform venous blood sampling in their daily work. A digital questionnaire was prepared for nurses and nursing students to investigate what kind of instruction they received in blood sampling at their educational institution, and whether this included preanalytical knowledge. In addition, the aim was to gain insight into their experience with venous blood sampling situations and attitudes to performing venous blood sampling on patients. Our results showed that 80% of all respondents (n=528) had a positive attitude towards performing venous blood sampling themselves and 68% were not satisfied with the amount of training they received during nursing school. More than half felt that they had insufficient knowledge of pre-analytical conditions to ensure correct analytical results and 83% saw venous blood sampling as a natural part of their tasks. Including blood sampling on the agenda during nursing school is important if the trend of decentralization of blood sampling continues in Norway. The educational institutions for nursing is the first step in an important work towards ensuring correct patient treatment.
