Pill packets suck

Nurses Medications

Published

I'm getting fed up with pill packets. The serrated separating lines are not as well made as before, some brands make it impossible to tear away one pill for a patient without scissors.

Then, once you get it away you either have to peel away the wrapper or pop it out the back. Peeling off the wrapper is often challenging. Sometimes the glue is too strong or the little corner you're supposed to grab is microscopic.

Sometimes you think you're supposed to pop it out the back but that wrecks the pill. There was really a microscopic corner you were supposed to somehow peel back.

Argh! :arghh:

Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

Moved to Patient Medications

Why do nicotine patches need to be cut out of their packaging with scissors? Why?

I think the worst ones are those that you buy for yourself in the corner drug store, like cold/allergy meds. I have to use the tip of a steak knife to penetrate through!

Specializes in Palliative, Onc, Med-Surg, Home Hospice.
How many times have you finally managed to get the packet open only to have it pop and the pill goes flying?!!! Grrrrr

Or crumble in about a power, like ativan!

Specializes in Travel, Home Health, Med-Surg.

And really a pain when you have a patient with 20 meds, and /or many throughout the day.. Why can't they use paper wrap on all meds, much easier..

Specializes in Med-Tele; ED; ICU.
attachment.php?attachmentid=24548&stc=1These are the bane of my med pass existence...statin foil blister packs that wouldn't open or tear along the perforation if you dropped an A-bomb on them.

That's why I *hate* holding floor patients... AM med passes with these f-ing things.

Specializes in Psych ICU, addictions.
I once had a psychotic patient chase me down the hall because I broke her Ativan trying to get it out of the package.

I hear you. A good number of my patients won't take broken pills because they are too paranoid.

It seems to be Zyprexa and Ativan that give me the most grief...in pill packet as well as IM form. Reconstituting Relprevv is probably one of the most frustrating tasks, since a. it takes forever to thoroughly mix (it's a better workout than a Shake Weight), and b. I'm guaranteed to be wearing a few drops of it as I draw it up, no matter how careful I am.

I've really begun to hate even thinking about giving meds any more because of the darned packets that the pills/caps come in. I've resorted to taking a pair of medical shears around with me to each patient just to get the medication out of the plastic. I feel like there needs to be an easier way to do this.

Patients on our floor usually have anywhere from 5 to 15 po meds that have to be removed from packaging before being administered. This takes up WAY too much of our time. It's silly to think about, really. They're always on our rear ends about making sure that we're doing everything in a timely manner and something as simplistic as giving medications is part of the issue. -_-

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

The med I am hating now is a buspar 15 mg. The thing is a long, skinny oval with nice score marks - 2 of them. The darn thing breaks in three pieces every single time I pop it out of the back no matter how careful I try to be.

I agree with the fentanyl patches complaint as well, why is it so darn hard to open that package? And I can't forget to mention lidocaine patches.

For awhile I had six residents using them and the packaging needs to be cut, no nice "tear here" marks at all. Plus when I go to put it on the cellophane backing just won't peel off! I try every stinking corner several times before I can finally get a corner started and then adding insult to that injury when I finally get a corner peeling the stupid things rolls up and sticks to itself instead of the person it's supposed to go on. Sheesh, infuriating!

Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.
I've really begun to hate even thinking about giving meds any more because of the darned packets that the pills/caps come in. I've resorted to taking a pair of medical shears around with me to each patient just to get the medication out of the plastic. I feel like there needs to be an easier way to do this.

Patients on our floor usually have anywhere from 5 to 15 po meds that have to be removed from packaging before being administered. This takes up WAY too much of our time. It's silly to think about, really. They're always on our rear ends about making sure that we're doing everything in a timely manner and something as simplistic as giving medications is part of the issue. -_-

I'm with you there, it is obscenely time-wasting!

I 'flunked out' of LTC med passes; I have arthritic thumbs and needed two thumbs to push a pill out of the bubble-pack cards.

I watched one young med-tech hold the med cup in her left hand, the cup right under the place she would push the pill from the packaging with her right thumb, click, pop into the cup, so easy-peasy. Uh-huh, Yuh.

Drawer after drawer crammed with the damned bubblepack cards, some held together by rubber bands, pawing through them in search of . . .whatever you need but can't locate. My fingertips were dry and knuckles were scraped, and sometimes in the winter, the skin cracked and it hurt worse, but try doing 12 hrs of med passes in gloves. GADS!

I'd have to set the pill cup on the top of the med cart, position the card of bubble-packed pills over the cup, press hard with one thumb on top of the other, suddenly it breaks through, my hands move too much with the effort, the pill pops into and out of the pill cup which has just skittered across the laminate top of the med cart and fallen to the floor. And forget about a not being able to touch any pill, because when they are moving and you're trying to catch them . . .YIKES! What a nightmare. And I thank God I'm out of it.

Quite a while prior to that I temped on a med-surg floor in a hospital where neither my finger-prints nor my temporary code would work to open up where my patient's med were waiting. Talk about frustration!

I'm not sure what might make it less of a time-consuming struggle, but God bless the person that can come up with a better method!

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
I'm with you there, it is obscenely time-wasting!

I 'flunked out' of LTC med passes; I have arthritic thumbs and needed two thumbs to push a pill out of the bubble-pack cards.

I watched one young med-tech hold the med cup in her left hand, the cup right under the place she would push the pill from the packaging with her right thumb, click, pop into the cup, so easy-peasy. Uh-huh, Yuh.

Drawer after drawer crammed with the damned bubblepack cards, some held together by rubber bands, pawing through them in search of . . .whatever you need but can't locate. My fingertips were dry and knuckles were scraped, and sometimes in the winter, the skin cracked and it hurt worse, but try doing 12 hrs of med passes in gloves. GADS!

I'd have to set the pill cup on the top of the med cart, position the card of bubble-packed pills over the cup, press hard with one thumb on top of the other, suddenly it breaks through, my hands move too much with the effort, the pill pops into and out of the pill cup which has just skittered across the laminate top of the med cart and fallen to the floor. And forget about a not being able to touch any pill, because when they are moving and you're trying to catch them . . .YIKES! What a nightmare. And I thank God I'm out of it.

Quite a while prior to that I temped on a med-surg floor in a hospital where neither my finger-prints nor my temporary code would work to open up where my patient's med were waiting. Talk about frustration!

I'm not sure what might make it less of a time-consuming struggle, but God bless the person that can come up with a better method!

What a great and vivid description! Moments like that are why I still dread passing meds in front of state. Unless they are there watching, the 3 second rule definitely applies.

Specializes in Pediatrics, Mother-Baby and SCN.

Ours come up from pharmacy in little plastic bags that tear easily, connected in strips usually if the patient has multiple meds, or sometimes multiple in a ziplock type baggie if it's a prn. The only ones we have to pop out are typically narcotics such as po dilaudid, percocet, tylenol 3s etc.. Recently they started including benzos into the counted narcotic drawer, so now they are in the cards with the foil backing as well. Also concerta, vyvanse, etc for adhd come in these packs. Ours are very easy to get out though, its a thin foil and then usually a plastic circle around the front, the foil tears easily to let the pill out when you push on it.

I feel very lucky now! I knew from reading many posts re: pyxis and all these different ways med administration is done in the US vs where I work in Canada, that it was a lot more time consuming but never knew about this aspect, or even considered it!

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