High school grads to screen blood
March 23, 2009
Joanna Frketich
The Hamilton Spectator
(Mar 23, 2009)
Canadian Blood Services is replacing nurses with high school graduates to screen potential blood donors.
Despite telling Ontario's Standing Committee on Justice Policy three years ago critical functions such as donor eligibility assessment can be done only by nurses, it is now planning on training Grade 12 graduates to do the job.
There will still be at least one nurse to supervise each blood donor clinic and consult about tough calls on donor eligibility.
But the majority of screening will be done by staff who take a course paid for by CBS at Ottawa-based Algonquin College.
The length of the course is still being determined.
Ontario nurses currently train for four years at university.
"The thinking is to really align the roles more closely with the valuable skill sets nurses bring into our organization," said Mark Donnison, executive director of donor and clinic services.
That is a complete turnaround from an oral presentation given in May 2006 by chief operating officer Ian Mumford to Ontario's Standing Committee on Justice Policy regarding Bill 56, which expanded the government's power to respond to emergencies.
"Given the highly regulated nature of our business, many of the critical functions must be performed by doctors, nurses or technologists," said Mumford. "For example, a nurse can only perform eligibility assessment of donors ... we are, therefore, not permitted to substitute other staff or volunteers to perform those duties."
CBS is now planning on submitting a proposal to Health Canada to change the regulations to allow it to substitute other staff to do the job of donor screening.
"Canadians can be confident that whenever Health Canada receives a submission from Canadian Blood Services or Hema-Quebec to change established procedures, sufficient evidence must be provided to show that the change will not compromise the safety to the donor and/or recipient," Health Canada spokesperson Alastair Sinclair said in a statement.
CBS says the change is necessary because of an acute shortage of nurses nationwide. The Canadian Nurses Association predicts the country will be short 78,000 nurses in as little as two years.
"As we're looking at our ability to collect enough blood, we are facing some situations where our clinics are being affected by not having enough staff in them," said Donnison. "It's really prompted us to take a look to see how we can move ahead and deal with this challenge in the future."
The Ontario Nurses' Association says it's dangerous to have less-skilled and unregulated workers screening blood donors.
ONA president Linda Haslam-Stroud argues nurses' medical knowledge, understanding of patient confidentiality and the accountability of being part of a regulatory college are essential to the job.
"When you are doing an assessment, this isn't about ticking off a sheet," she said. "You're asking pretty invasive questions, like your sexual behaviour, and picking up and recognizing a lot of symptoms."
jfrketich@thespec.com
905-526-3349
http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/535007
Not so sure I like this idea.