pct debate

[lpnga]

Has anyone heard of PCT *patient care technicians* ?

PCT 1 is a CNA

PCT 2 can do blood sugars, catheters, etc

PCT 3 can start iv's etc

I live near Chattanooga and I work as a PCT..in another thread this was a debate with everyone saying that I was lying and this was not the case. Asking why have LPN's..I understand this but we get paid less then LPN's and go to school a shorter amount of time but we are there *that's the point* Everyone may not agree with the fact that we can do so much but we have been trained to do this. Also if your trained you can pass out meds..I just want to know what everyone thinks and do you have pct's where you work.

[hogan4736, BSN, RN]

I know an RN who had placed an EWOL (sp?) or lavage tube - 32 FR, down a patient after he overdosed...She met resistance while pulling the tube out, so she YANKED on it, subsequently ripping the esophagus, and the patient died...she had been a nurse for 10+ years, and stil is...

Careful who we pile on just because of a job title.

[catrn10]

Honey I just reread one of your posts and I know exactly where you work, and the hospital in Georgia and also the one in Chattanooga. I believe one of the hospitals is commonly know as Die County to the local folk. That would be the one I told my family to drive past on the way to Chattanooga if anything bad happened. Been there, worked there, never again. However, the nursing home you are at does a darn good job with their patients. At least they are clean, with no bedsores. And the facility doesn't smell, and the programs for the residents is good.

[MishlB]

Originally posted by lpnga

yes some aides don't know as much about meds as needed..even me..I only pass to those pts I know the meds they are given and the side effects.....that is my big concern I hate to take meds..I wont even take advil for a headache...i would like to be offered a longer class on it

So you just decide which meds you have the information about and pass those? Doesn't anyone else smell the cow patties around here??? Puhleeez.

[Vsummer1]

Originally posted by askater11

vsummer what do you do in nursing? Are you an instructor?

No, just a lowly student in an RN program... I don't do anything without an instuctor LOL

[lpnga]

denise.

I am so sorry....I would have said something to the pcts but if I am uncomfortable I will ask for help and i must say that some pcts do try to force people to do things..in the LTC facility I work SOME pcts and nurses make the residents go to sleep at 5:30 and sometimes they don't want to..i must say I have never tried to make someone go to sleep..I feel that I am in their home and I would not want someone telling me that it is my bedtime and for me not to wake up until 8 in the morning.....

yesterday this one little lady did not want to put her clothes on to go to bed and it was almost 9 o clock at night and I tried to talk her into going to bed she was in the hall asleep but told me no she was waiting on Jesus to come and get her and she was not going...I let her have her wishes and took her back out in the hall where she sat in her chair............i did not work today..so i don't know if she ever went to bed............I also always report a bruise..that makes me so mad....i love my pts...

[lpnga]

thanks to everyone

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

Interesting crematory story in that area,too.

[lpnga]

YES and that was awful. I knew the people. His mom and sister had been my teacher.

[eltrip]

Originally posted by lpnga

catrn

your right......DIE county.......aka tri county.......yes the nursing home is excellent........havent seen a bedsore since i have been there........

lpnga,

Please be careful about the information you post about your facility. There have been instances where folks have been "tracked down" by their coworkers and turned the poster in to management.

Some people live to act ugly. One of those harsh facts of life.

Thanks for the info on the hospitals. I won't work at either one in the future.

[emily_mom]

Originally posted by lpnga

yes some aides don't know as much about meds as needed..even me..I only pass to those pts I know the meds they are given and the side effects.....that is my big concern I hate to take meds..I wont even take advil for a headache...i would like to be offered a longer class on it

So you only pass meds that you know about? Don't you think that contributes to med errors as someone else has to go behind you and pass the rest?

Why don't you want to know about the other drugs? Get a drug book and learn! I don't pass a single med unless I know what it's for, what it does, and how it works. How else can you monitor for adverse reactions?

Ditto on telling people where you work. You can get fried for that.

[askater11]

Vsummer why I asked your profession...is because you sound like an instructor. And no one is looked down. We should treat each other well....we all need each other.

I would like to say....one reason I don't like a PCT...implementing medication is....it's my licence on-line. I have a question: Do PCT's...at facilities that do facilitate the use of PCT's for meds...do they allow PCT's to give insulin?

Also...giving meds you need to look at the "whole" patient. Pt. medical history, signs and symptoms and etc.

...one thing I can tell not even Dr.'s know EVERYTHING about medications. Nobody knows everything.

Medication's are always changing. That's why they use PDR's....I'd rather have a Dr. that thinks he "KNOWs everything" and doesn't use a PDR....then one that realizes he doesn't "KNOW" everything. At my past two facilities I knew Dr.'s that thought they new "everything" believe me that gets them into problems.

I was on a medication. I had the side effect of bruising. I was so eccymotic I looked as though I was beaten. I read in my nursing drug book...bruising wasn't a side effect listed....I looked all over the Internet still couldn't find it as a side effect. I went to the Dr. he pulled out this little tiny hand held computer thing and found out bruising was a side effect.

[MishlB]

Originally posted by emily_mom

So you only pass meds that you know about? Don't you think that contributes to med errors as someone else has to go behind you and pass the rest?

Why don't you want to know about the other drugs? Get a drug book and learn! I don't pass a single med unless I know what it's for, what it does, and how it works. How else can you monitor for adverse reactions?

Ditto on telling people where you work. You can get fried for that.

You know what...that isn't even the point. CNA's should not be passing meds.