Question: If an IV certified paramedic with a non-IV certified partner initiates a saline lock but does not give fluid or medication; can the partner without IV certification attend the call?

 In general it has been our teaching that paramedics who have the higher scope of practice on scene attend to the patient: especially if that paramedic performs a procedure or follows a medical directive that exceeds the scope of practice of other paramedics on scene. In theory, one of the reasons why the intravenous may have been initiated was for the potential that the patient would require IV fluid or IV medications: something that the non IV certified paramedic would be not able to deliver on route to the hospital.

That being said, there may be extenuating circumstances where this direction from SWORBHP cannot be followed (MCI incident for example). The Basic Life Support Patient Care Standards (BLS PCS) does allow for all primary care paramedics to transport patients with IV previously established in adult patients.

Please review the BLS PCS Intravenous Line Maintenance Standard in section 1-41. A link to this standard is here: www.health.gov.on.ca/english/public/program/ehs/edu/pdf/bls_patient.pdf

BLS,Cardiac/Circulation,Intravenous and Fluid Therapy,Miscellanous

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