Medication administration for DD population

"I'm convinced that med admin at group homes is one of the Nine Levels of Caregiving Hell."

Scarry! Psych meds have to be so precise. It's not like giving Colace...

I agree this oversight is part of caregiving hell, if I didn't enjoy the folks I work with so much the med techs would send me running out the door. Over the years though, we really have had 2 significant errors from med techs that resulted in ER visits but luckily no prolonged harm done. At least they caught their errors immediately and reported it for quick intervention which saved lives. The techs however were teminated for breaking policy.

Wow, I hope that some of these older posts have had changes made in their states and facilities! I don't work in DD community/goup homes but am applying for a position so I have done some research. In CT to be med certified you have to complete a 20-30 hr classroom portion by either state RN's or your facility RN/pharmacist/MD has to be certified by the state to teach the class. Then there are 3 exams you need to pass and a few med passes to observe and then a few med passes to demonstrate to the RN/pharmacist/MD teacher. Recert is required every 2 years. The RN also needs to observe each person's med pass at least once a year, but I would expect that other monitoring is more frequent.

CT sounds to have a good practice standard. A couple of years ago NC proposed all techs in the group homes would have to become state certified but group home providers lobbied against it and won due to the financial impact. The nurses do not have to be state trained or "Master Trainers" but it does have to be an RN providing classroom education, testing, a final med pass and annual recertification. This is standard for ICF MR, other group home settings: DDA, CAP, Youth at Risk, etc have less stringent training requirements. I really would like to see state certified techs come in to pass meds for quality purposes but I don't see it happening in the near future due to the current state of the economy.

Hi everyone!

I am new to the DD field and I am working as a RN for host home program. Bascially foster care for adults. The program itself is new to the area, so the coordinator and myself are still trying to figure things out ourselves. Can anyone give me some guidance as to how to write a medication self adminstration plan? I have an assessment tool, but we feel we need a written protocol as to teach the clients to be able to self admin. Any suggestions/resources??

Thanks!