TN Nurses Against Proposed Bill (SB 0009) for "Certified Medication Technicians"

Thanks for the information. I'm writing my legislators right now!

I have worked with CMA's (Certified Medication Aide's) in a state where they have been around for quite some time. You would never see them in a hospital, passing meds in that manner. The CMA's would be passing in a care facility, where the same meds are given to a patient over, and over, and over, and over again day after day. They were not allowed to do injections in that particular state.

If you've ever done a med pass in a nursing home.....you could picture a CMA passing meds.

Did you intend to post this on the TN nurses forum? Texas already allows Certified Medication Aides.

These CMA's sound like the Qualified Medication Aides (QMA's) we have in IN. In LTC, if used appropriately, they can be a huge help. But, they can also be a hindrance as well.

I've worked in facilities that will staff the units with both a nurse (RN or LPN) and a QMA. When used in that respect, the nurse has more time to complete assessments and paperwork, etc. Other places I've worked have a tendency to try to use the QMA's in place of a nurse. This just causes dissesion all around because it essentially makes a nurse have to work her own unit (including passing meds) and pick up the slack on the unit the QMA is doing. The QMA's in IN have now been checked off on accucheck and gtube med administration but most facilities (at least in my area) will not allow them to perform those duties. And to top that all off, the current facility I work out will not let a QMA pass narcotics, even if they are scheduled. I understand not being able to give a PRN narc b/c it requires an assessment but a scheduled? So, the nurse ends up having to do the QMA's accuchecks/insulins, gtubes, all the paperwork/charting, orders, etc.

Thread moved to TN nurses forum.

I didn't go to nursing school to have to end up competing with a nursing assistant for a job when the NA works for less money and will get hired before I do. Never support this stuff. Comes to my state, I'll be hanging it up if it affects my career in any way. I already get treated like I'm less than a nursing assistant anyway, so I'm half way out the door whether I can afford it or not. Oh retirement, then death, come quickly!

I cringe at the thought of "medication aides", and I will never work with one if I can help it, UNLESS the state makes them LICENSED personnel so that they are fully responsible for their own actions.

Even if they are only utilized in a LTC setting with stable patients, passing meds the pt has been on for 100 years, I'm still not comfortable with the idea.

I don't mean to offend anyone out there, but look at what is already being delegated to CNA's. CNA's have a LOT of work passed down to them, and sometimes not all of it gets done, either by being overworked or by willful negligence.

Now you have an unlicensed person who may or may not have a good work ethic passing your medications. Are the medications actually being given out? How can you be sure, if you didn't give them? It's easy to eyeball your patients and see if they're being turned q2h, if their water pitchers are being filled, bed to low position, call light in reach, call lights answered promptly, etc. How do you QA a pill pass without shadowing the aide?

Also, how much can this medication aide really know about pharmacology after an 8 or 16-hour course? The most extensive pharm course I have heard of for med aides was 40 hours. Even 40 hours is no comparison to the amount of pharmacology LPN's have to go through, between writing out dozens of drug cards, memorizing actions, classifications, side effects, pt teaching etc for dozens of drugs, passing meds and observing response for every pt in every clinical rotation for a year. Sorry, 40 hours just isn't going to cut it.

This isn't to say that CNA's and other UAP aren't to be trusted. FAR from it! I'm extremely grateful when I have a team player as a CNA, because he/she can really make a horrible patient load tolerable. But when you're talking about performing a nursing function that I can't readily determine whether or not it's actually being performed -- no thanks, I'll pass those pills myself.

Again, unless they are licensed, it's a NO from me.

The day that my aides start passing meds in my nursing home is the day I resign as the DON. I will not put my license on the line like that. My aides are wonderful at what they do, but I completely disagree with this bill.