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CNA giving medications....



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Jun 21, 2009 01:11 PM

CNA giving medications....


Ok. So I went on my clinicals last week. I was at the table feeding a woman who needed assistance with her meal, when the LPN came and put medication in her drink. I didn't know what to do because if I passed her the drink, I would have been giving her the meds, and I'm not allowed to do that. But the woman couldn't hold the cup herself, and the LPN went off do do her rounds. What to do in a situation like that? If I just passed her the cup, am I going out of my scope of practice??

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6 Comments
No. 1
from caliotter3
Old Jun 21, 2009, 01:18 PM

Default Re: CNA giving medications....
This is a tricky question. You didn't put the meds in the cup. If I were the nurse, I would have given the drink myself. At a facility where I worked, a nurse was fired for having a CNA give meds. In my state we do not have CNAs perform medication aide duties. Interested to see what others say about this practice.
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No. 2
from caliotter3
Old Jun 21, 2009, 01:19 PM

Default Re: CNA giving medications....
BTW, you are a good CNA for bringing up this question. Most people would never give it a second thought. You should ask the supervising nurse on the unit about this.
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No. 3
from nurse12b
Old Jun 21, 2009, 01:22 PM

Default Re: CNA giving medications....
Go to the charge nurse right away because that LPN was supposed to stay with her until she took her meds. Just her putting it in her cup was not giving it to her. She put you in a bad situation, she knew you were helping her eat/drink. Next time tell her "Are you going to wait until she is finished drinking because I am not going to give her that cup I will get another cup to and give her something else to drink" It is your right to protect yourself. If something would have happened it would be on you, don't let anybody tell you otherwise.
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No. 4
from mizfradd
Old Jun 21, 2009, 02:12 PM

Default Re: CNA giving medications....
The LPN should have stayed and watched her consume the ENTIRE contents of that cup.
If the LPN did this in a dining hall, she is actually putting other clients in danger since someone else could pick up the cup & drink from it.
This LPN is also lying on the MAR. She did not witness the pt. take the med. at the time she is going to mark off on the MAR.

Please CYA & tell the CN what happened!!
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No. 5
from Karla.S
Old Jun 22, 2009, 01:54 AM

Default Re: CNA giving medications....
Just agreeing with what everyone else has been saying here. My instructor has told me never to administer medications (even topical ones) to a Pt at any time because of legal reasons and it being out of your scope of practice. Its not right for the LPN to be too "busy" to make sure the resident took her meds.. the LPN was in the wrong. I would definately bring it up to your charge nurse.
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No. 6
from mimib
Old Jun 22, 2009, 08:26 PM

Default Re: CNA giving medications....
The MAR requires the person giving meds to sign off that they witnessed intake of medicines. She obviously falsified this document by having you actually administer the meds. You can get in trouble for this and it is out of your scope of practice. Kudos to you for questioning this practice! A lot of aides think nothing of it because the LPN/RN/CMT put the pills in the cup but you still aren't allowed to transfer the meds from the cup to the resident.
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