Exercise Testing

Hi all, hoping someone can help with an ongoing discussion here. I am the operations supervisor at university hospital where we have CEPs doing all types of diagnostic stress testing. Currently the hospital has turned down the idea of CEPs placing IV's citing that it is not in our scope of practice, however personally at other university hospitals and clinics I have placed IVs in the past with approval from the medical director.

This may be a stupid question, but where do I find our scope of practice? From my experience there is not a clearly defined scope of practice for the CEP, and in the clinical setting does this truly fall outside of our scope? Any thoughts or information to help our case would be greatly appreciated!

Jacque

I am an EP in a hospital setting and have previously performed venipuncture for both IV access and lab draws after completing phlebotomy training offered by the hospital.

I would ask for clarification on the scope of practice argument. Are the phlebotomists at your hospital required to maintain a license or special credentialing that delineates scope of practice in order to perform their job?

Jacque- As you have experienced and as Jennifer described, there are many institutions that train CEPs to start IVs. It is a skill. As for your inquiry about scope of practice (SoP). A "legal" SoP is defined by law. Louisiana is the only state in the US with a legal SoP. In the absence of a law restricting SoP, a "professional" SoP is based on the knowledge, skills, and experiences of a professional and is defined by a local institution. For instance, PhD CEPs at Henry Ford can be granted privileges to perform skeletal muscle biopsies following adequate training. I don't know that you will find that procedure in the SoP for any professional. In some ways, not having a legal SoP expands the potential job tasks that can be granted to CEPs. You might consider surveying area hospitals to learn which allow CEPs to start IVs and what training they require. This might help your case. Best wishes.

Thanks Clinton, this is very helpful!