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| No. 10 | 
Dec 08, 2004, 10:48 PM
I hear you, Vicky! When I was a DON in assisted living, I used to watch these gals with barely a high-school education giving medications like digoxin and Coumadin, and I'd think WOW, I went to school for four years to learn how to do that!! It scared me that they could give these high-alert meds and not know the signs of toxicity, or what to do if somebody started bleeding and didn't stop, or even why they were giving them.
I don't know about anyone else, but I personally did not go to nursing school so I could be a paper-pusher. (That's why I left management.) If I wanted to do that, I could've gone to business school........The powers that be need to leave the medication-giving to the people who know how drugs work, why they work, and what to do when they don't work or when they actually harm someone. And that, my friends, is US---LPNs and RNs. I don't want to look down on CNAs or UAPs, because they do a hard job and most of them are wonderful at it; but they just do not have the education & training to give medications safely IMHO. I agree with Vicky: we should NOT give up this part of nursing, or allow it to be taken away from us without a fight. Our patients' lives may very well depend on it.
I wonder if the people who come up with these stupid ideas ever think to themselves, "Hey, what if the patient was MY mom or dad---would I want someone who can barely spell 'warfarin' to be giving it to them"?   | | Advertisement Sponsored Links | | | | No. 11 |
Dec 08, 2004, 11:36 PM
iam an lpn who works in an assisted living and i'm the only nurse on duty in my shift in a 7 floor facility so on top of having to pass medication on one floor with about 35 residents ,i'm in charge of the building plus about 118 total residents in case of any emergency, have to do some wound dressings,follow up on physician orders /residents change of conditions/ family members and a couple of times medicine aides have not been scheduled so have about 3 floors to pass meds_but the medicine aides come to my rescue.
Problem is they are not supposed to pass meds on more than two floors but i'm also overwhelmed and some of them they don't evn go thru the MAR to see if there are new orders and that freaks me out-My boss knows about this and she thought about hiring more lpn's to pass meds coz there are too many errors but the facility i work at thinks about saving money.It is frustrating just looking for another job right now coz i worked hard for my licence-rant   | | No. 12 |
Dec 09, 2004, 12:15 AM
Originally Posted by blessed02 iam an lpn who works in an assisted living and i'm the only nurse on duty in my shift in a 7 floor facility so on top of having to pass medication on one floor with about 35 residents ,i'm in charge of the building plus about 118 total residents in case of any emergency, have to do some wound dressings,follow up on physician orders /residents change of conditions/ family members and a couple of times medicine aides have not been scheduled so have about 3 floors to pass meds_but the medicine aides come to my rescue.
Problem is they are not supposed to pass meds on more than two floors but i'm also overwhelmed and some of them they don't evn go thru the MAR to see if there are new orders and that freaks me out-My boss knows about this and she thought about hiring more lpn's to pass meds coz there are too many errors but the facility i work at thinks about saving money.It is frustrating just looking for another job right now coz i worked hard for my licence-rant
Just exactly as you say, I worked hard for mine, too, and there ain't nobody, and I mean NOBODY gonna work off MY license. I won't be responsible for someone else giving meds. I say let the admininstrator assume that responsibility. If they wanna save money, let them have that responsibility.
| | No. 13 |
Dec 09, 2004, 06:08 AM
CNA's in LTC in Texas can pass certain routine meds too...the RN I believe is responsible for monitoring for side effects, etc. That would bother me. How many of these old folks are on Dig, , diuretics,beta blockers, etc...and how much time do the nurses have to check pulses, BP's and monitor patient s/s? We get lots of hospital admissions for dehydration, hypotension and lyte imbalances..these old folks don't eat for a few days or have diarrhea and they're in trouble...and it isn't caught til it's gone too far.
I've heard it explained in this way: the CNA/med aides are functioning like family would at home.
| | No. 14 |
Dec 09, 2004, 08:25 AM
Originally Posted by mattsmom81 CNA's in LTC in Texas can pass certain routine meds too...the RN I believe is responsible for monitoring for side effects, etc. That would bother me. How many of these old folks are on Dig, , diuretics,beta blockers, etc...and how much time do the nurses have to check pulses, BP's and monitor patient s/s? We get lots of hospital admissions for dehydration, hypotension and lyte imbalances..these old folks don't eat for a few days or have diarrhea and they're in trouble...and it isn't caught til it's gone too far.
I've heard it explained in this way: the CNA/med aides are functioning like family would at home.
Shameful how we as a society treat our elders.
| | No. 15 |
Dec 09, 2004, 08:49 AM
Perhaps what is needed is a good nurse, who works with an attorney utilized in a lawsuit , to shed A GREAT deal of light on the short-staffing, legal risks associated with this type of thing. I an a new LNC and am learning how to put this type of thing into words. We have to look deeper into the issue. Perhaps management does not understand or they ignore their understanding. Regardless, as a facility they are liable. I am not sure how all this works yet, but I aim to do my part in exposing the evil nature of this greedy, careless industry. There has to be a way around the obstacles created by the facilities i.e. settling out of court so their name won't be mentioned. There has to be a way to bring them down, or at least expose their tactics to the world and embarass them. I am praying for a way. How about you?
| | No. 16 |
Dec 09, 2004, 09:57 AM
Originally Posted by SmilingBluEyes Our own Rusty said it best once a while ago:
If you want meds administered, you hire a NURSE.................
NOT a UAP, not a CMA....not anyone else.......NO!
But in the name of the bottom line, it's easy to see why so many places are motivated to go to the lowest common denominator, even in issues as important as the administration of medications. There is NO WAY ON EARTH an CMA will EVER possess the knowledge of pathophysiology and pharmacology to administer meds safely that the LPN or RN will---- and yet they do, and yet under OUR licenses? It's a disgrace, and I wonder if the public even knows what is going on under their noses? Or cares????? Only when harm is done does anyone's attention get drawn to the issue, right?
Well said! There are other things to consider when passing meds besides the fact that they are due at 'x' O'clock. Nurses need to make important decisions about when to withhold certain meds and also when to call up the doc to get verbal changes and orders for other meds, depending on what's going on with the pt. Where I work, they hire a lot of PCAs/CNAs but they do not allow them to pass any meds.
| | No. 17 |
Dec 09, 2004, 12:05 PM
Originally Posted by jonipilaske Perhaps what is needed is a good nurse, who works with an attorney utilized in a lawsuit , to shed A GREAT deal of light on the short-staffing, legal risks associated with this type of thing.
There are nursing attorneys. I've personal met one once, very interesting person. She is a full blown attorney and a nurse at the same time.
-Dan
| | No. 18 |
Dec 09, 2004, 12:46 PM
And does she advocate FOR and ON behalf of nurses, or against them? Just curious....cause they are lawyers, and therefore, do usually take a side. Just wondering as some nurse attorneys can be our BEST advocates....some not quite.
| | No. 19 |
Dec 09, 2004, 01:20 PM
[i]In the hospital I work in, they recently increased the level of responsibility for LPNs. They can now flush central lines and give IV meds in the form of parfills premixed by the pharmacy. They can also do central line dressing changes. The hospital does require that LPNs take a class and demonstrate competancy before they can work with central lines.
In MA as an LPN we could do everything an RN could except pronounce death hang blood by ourselves, and of course some IV pushes. We NEVER used unlicensed for med passes in LTC or hospital and the *** living all had nurses also. But here in Las Vegas they are trying to use unlicensed for anything they can. Soo Sad
Cheryl
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