Do you pre-set your meds? Why or why not?
I personally do not pre-set meds and think it's a very unsafe practice. I've worked with a nurse who pre-set meds right in the hallway -- she might have as many as 10-12 cups of meds sitting on top of her med cart at once. Her logic was that it was ok because she never left her cart. My thoughts is that all it takes is for her to turn her back to the cart to give a resident meds, and although she's still right there, it would be way too easy for another resident to grab the pills and take them before she knew what was happening. We have too many wandering, curious, confused residents for that to be safe. Another nurse thinks it's ok to pre-set if she does in the med room. My problem with that is the time you are taking in the med room pre-setting pills for 15-20 residents you are totally oblivious to what's going on outside the med room. While she was in there once pre-setting pills the other nurse was going on her dinner break but had not left the nurses station yet when a CNA called to her that a resident was choking. By the time the nurse that was supposed to be on break got to the resident, she was turning blue and required the heimlich (sp?). The nurse pre-setting the meds --- she didn't have a clue any of this was going on until she came out of the med room and the other nurse told her!! In my opinion there's just too many chances for med errors to pre-set. How do the rest of you feel about it? Our DON doesn't like it, but apparently there's no policy against it --- and I wish there were.