Would you let someone else to administer your meds?

[Anagray]

Would/Do u let another person ( Aid, PCA, TCA) to administer your meds, adjust O2, etc?

[willie2001]

No.

[NannaNurse]

OMG.....are you crazy????? Where I work, we use Pyxis and each med comes in its original package...sealed. In orientating another nurse, I let them pass meds while I am watching. We open each med, one by one, place in med cup, sign off the MAR and administer.

Perfect example here.....one Pt. had order for Guiac of all stools. One of the night nurses left the developer in the bathroom....no big deal right????? WRONG!!! The Pt. also had moisture drops at the bedside......Yep...you guessed it. A Therapy tech decided to 'help the Pt. out' and administered eye drops.....or so she thought....she administered drops alright, but of the Guiac developer OD. Thankfully there was no damage, but what if there was??? The tech was repremanded and the nurse for leaving it out.

Enough said!!

[susanmary]

Never.

[shay]

Uh, nooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo..............

Is this a trick question or something??

[KaraLea, LVN]

The only time I would let someone else give a med I had drawn up is if it was a pedi patient who will only take meds from Mommy/Daddy. But I am standing right there watching them, making sure they take the whole amount. The medication never leaves my eyesight till the child takes it.

[Teshiee]

Why set yourself up for something you don't want to deal with in the end. Do your own work if the patient doesn't want to take them chart refused and move on. A big no no no no

[Anagray, BSN]

Hey, everyone! thanks for re-assuring me.

I'm a tech and there were at least 2 times last month where some nurses asked me to adjust O2, switch from re-breather to cannula and back. MY friend CNA told me that nurses let/ask her give meds to pts all the time (she works elsewhere).

I'm new to medical field, new on my floor and I want to please the nurses - I will do anything they ask, but I am definitely NOT comfortble with doing something I'm not at liberty to do, especially if i didn't have clinical training.

I just wanted to make sure that asking techs and aids to adminitster meds is not only wrong by "the book rules", but that most nurses take it seriously.

[thisnurse]

wait a minute...

whats wrong with another RN giving your meds if THEY draw them up and THEY chart that THEY gave them?

i have given pain meds for other nurses. i assessed the pt and i checked the orders and i drew it up, reassessed the patient and charted it as given by me.

i dont see anything wrong with this.

i would NEVER give ANYTHING prepared by anyone else nor would i ask anyone to give something prepared by me.

as for the O2...our cna's adjust that all of the time. some of them also mess with the infusion pumps...shut them off, turn them on. i HATE that...it really ticks me off. ive also seen them disconnect iv tubing from the port.

this is SO illegal.

and they always come out of the room with a big smile like a lil kid that just used the potty chair for the first time and i always have to be the meanie and ask them not to do that.

[RNIAM, BSN, RN]

Anagray

Hi. And welcome I hope you enjoy your new career. Now all I ever needed to say to a nurse was, I don't mind doing that at all if you don't mind losing your license. This was only in regard to oxegen. I would say a resounding NO nice and loud if any nurse even attempted to get me to give a med. What if the med was wrong? Or you gave it to the wrong person.... too scary:eek:

[OBNURSEHEATHER]

This is why I don't like giving another nurse's pt. some pain meds.

I saw one of my coworkers getting her new admit. About 2 minutes later, I saw that one of her other patients call light was on. Knowing the nurse was tied up with her admit, I checked on her patient. She said she wanted 2 Vicodin. I go record it on the MAR, sign it, then sign it out of the narc cart. But the Vicodin count is off by 2. I say something to the charge nurse who happens to be standing right next to me, and then I start down the hall to give these Vicodin. Like some freak thing, the nurse who's pt. I'm medicating comes out and hears the charge nurse saying the Vicodin count is off. She says "oh, that's me. I medicated my pt. in a hurry cause I knew my admit was coming, I was gonna come back and write it down."

They caught me as I stood next to the pt. checking her identification bands.

Now, I've been in a hurry before, but I NEVER take narcs without accounting for them on the sheet or writing it on the MAR. It only takes 5 seconds. And this pt. obviously had issues of her own for asking 2 different nurses for the same thing. But seriously, who's fault would it have been for overmedicating that pt? I love her dearly, but that nurse very well could have written down when she gave the med, making it look like I was the one that had neglected my duty to check the time of the last dose.

Scary stuff. Now I tell them I'd be glad to get them something, as soon as I confirm it with their nurse.

Heather

[dawngloves, BSN, RN]

I have given or had another RN give meds for pts when there is an emergent situation and we don't have time. We always pitch in the best we can.

But to have unliscensed personnel doing your job? Only if I want to spend some time in jail!!!

[nightingale, RN]

Holy Cow....

I would hope no one lets anyone give their meds other then another licensed person who would also sign out the med....

yes, I have let PCA turn the O2 dial while I was there if we rechecked it in 5 minutes....

B.