Becoming a medication aide??

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I am just needing some information about what being a medication aide entails? I start an RN program this fall and we were told in orientation that after first semester we could take an exam to become a medication aide or a CNA to work while in school, and possibly even a home health aide for hospice. I have read some heated posts on here about medication aides. I don't want to get blasted for looking into this. I just don't know anything about this title and was wanting to know some more information like what they do exactly, the pay rate, why the heated posts regarding this, and would one of the other jobs mentioned above be a better choice and why. Thanks so much.

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Specializes in Geri, Home Health, OB GYN.
I am just needing some information about what being a medication aide entails? I start an RN program this fall and we were told in orientation that after first semester we could take an exam to become a medication aide or a CNA to work while in school, and possibly even a home health aide for hospice. I have read some heated posts on here about medication aides. I don't want to get blasted for looking into this. I just don't know anything about this title and was wanting to know some more information like what they do exactly, the pay rate, why the heated posts regarding this, and would one of the other jobs mentioned above be a better choice and why. Thanks so much.

My main concern with med aides~ and I don't know if anyone will agree with me, but this was a general worry at my previous job~ that a med aide takes a 3 month class, sometimes less, and are gave the right to medicate people without knowing the rules for the drug. ie.. giving a BP med but they usually don't check the BP or pulse. Or they are quick to give a prn anti-anxiety med to an "unruly" Alzheimer's pt (which is a personal pet peeve of mine)... just small stuff that could add up to a huge problem.

I had a med aide skip out when a pt had a heart attach and died in the middle of the hallway. She called 911 and left. Didn't come find me, didn't meet the paramedics, just left.

To me, and not to blast you of course, med aides are a problem. They just don't know enough to essentially give the meds that are keeping a pt alive.

To me the best nurses, were CNA's. I was not a CNA, not to say I am a bad nurse, but there is a differance, especially if you are going to work in a nursing home.

GOOD LUCK!!!

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Specializes in LTC, Rehab, Skilled Nursing, Management.
I am just needing some information about what being a medication aide entails? I start an RN program this fall and we were told in orientation that after first semester we could take an exam to become a medication aide or a CNA to work while in school, and possibly even a home health aide for hospice. I have read some heated posts on here about medication aides. I don't want to get blasted for looking into this. I just don't know anything about this title and was wanting to know some more information like what they do exactly, the pay rate, why the heated posts regarding this, and would one of the other jobs mentioned above be a better choice and why. Thanks so much.

I agree with the reasons the previous poster has concerns with med aides in general....

But.... I think it would be a good idea for you to choose the med aide route. This is because you would be able to really become familiar with meds by working over and over with them. For me, hands on experience is very helpful. I also think that given the fact that you are in a nursing program, you will become even more familiar with the reasons behind the rationale for orders for a particular med. Such as Reglan, which is often used as a anti-nausea med, being given to a diabetic who has gastroparesis in order to increase gastric emptying time. A med aide may not be aware of the disease process and may not understand how this med would help a diabetic. As a nurse I would ask the patient questions about feeling full, last BM, etc. and also listen to their bowel sounds prior to giving the med. I don't know if med aides do all that. Anyhow, as a nursing student, these might be things that you start to do to get yourself used to the nursing process, which would also enhance your memory and knowledge of pharm, which can be difficult for some to remember. I know Pharm causes fear in some graduate nurses getting ready to NCLEX.

Anywho....these are my thoughts on this. On top of that, med aides also can help CNA's with patient care at times as well. I say go for med aide.

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.

Becoming a med aide will definitely further you nursing abilities more than becoming a CNA, because their job is really a nursing skill. On the other hand, once you become a nurse, you may begin to believe that medication aides are unsafe for the patients, and are undermining nurses by stealing their hard learned skills simply so facilities can generate more profit. Nurses take a very hard road to learn these drugs and their relation to the physiology of the body, while med aides take a very short one for half the pay. Being that med aides are so ill-prepared for the job they steal from a nurse, i would have to vote against it. Once you are a nurse, you will hopefully want to join in the fight against these kinds of profit-driven ideas that have absolutely no regard for the safety of the patient or the career of the nurse. With the high number of medication errors that exist already just by nurses, it is such a nutty concept that someone with a fraction of the training should be considered "qualified" to perform the same task. Here is a study that shows that "Each month, nearly one out of every 10 nursing home residents suffers a medication-related injury".

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/02/24/medication

It is a few years old, and only one state, but you can bet it is a microcosm of the entire country. If you do a little research to see just how many med errors are made each year by fully trained nurses, then you may not feel comfortable doing the same job with little training or supervision. Of course i am totally biased so take that into consideration as well. I wish you the best in whatever you choose to do. Good luck!:up:

PS... I was a home health aide for years and it was a great job with lots of flexibility and low risk.

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Specializes in School Nursing.
Becoming a med aide will definitely further you nursing abilities more than becoming a CNA, because their job is really a nursing skill. On the other hand, once you become a nurse, you may begin to believe that medication aides are unsafe for the patients, and are undermining nurses by stealing their hard learned skills simply so facilities can generate more profit. Nurses take a very hard road to learn these drugs and their relation to the physiology of the body, while med aides take a very short one for half the pay. Being that med aides are so ill-prepared for the job they steal from a nurse, i would have to vote against it. Once you are a nurse, you will hopefully want to join in the fight against these kinds of profit-driven ideas that have absolutely no regard for the safety of the patient or the career of the nurse. With the high number of medication errors that exist already just by nurses, it is such a nutty concept that someone with a fraction of the training should be considered "qualified" to perform the same task. Here is a study that shows that "Each month, nearly one out of every 10 nursing home residents suffers a medication-related injury".

http://www.boston.com/business/articles/2005/02/24/medication

It is a few years old, and only one state, but you can bet it is a microcosm of the entire country. If you do a little research to see just how many med errors are made each year by fully trained nurses, then you may not feel comfortable doing the same job with little training or supervision. Of course i am totally biased so take that into consideration as well. I wish you the best in whatever you choose to do. Good luck!:up:

PS... I was a home health aide for years and it was a great job with lots of flexibility and low risk.

Thanks for your time explaining that Bradley. I had no idea. My grandmother is 86 years old and in a nursing home for the first time in her life after being so independent. She recently fell and broke her hip. She was on no meds going in but now they have her on Xanax every day! Maybe she did need it, I am not sure, but I definitely could see people over-medicating or giving the wrong medication with little training. I loved taking my pre-nursing pharmacology course and made a terrific grade, but you are right about nurses going through the very extensive training with meds. It is scary that people with only a portion of that knowledge are giving out meds. If I were to do the med aide, I have confidence in myself that I would be extremely conscientious. Maybe the short-term experience of being a med aide would be beneficial if I were ever going to argue against its existence? I don't know. Maybe that doesn't make sense. I have six months to think about it. Thanks for sharing. I appreciate it!

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Specializes in Trauma ICU, Surgical ICU, Medical ICU.

I've honestly never heard of a med aide before but the thought that things like that exist really freak me out!!! Just a random question, do they give scheduled meds or PRN meds that the doc may order? Do they only work in LTC or in hospitals too? Are they required to know meds, look them up if they dont know them? Who gets in trouble if the med aide gives a med that hurts the pt or gives the wrong dose, doesnt check a bp, etc?

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Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Like others, I believe that becoming a medication aide will certainly help you on the road to becoming a nurse. I used to be one at a psych hospital, and years later, when I took pharmacology and psych I remembered those classifications, side effects and behaviors like it all happened yesterday...I remembered them that well. Being exposed to medications, and then growing more into them while you are developing as a nurse will be a win win for you.

We were taught to obtain vital signs before giving certain medications, but our instructions were if they were above or below the provided parameters to inform the nurse. Some did, some didn't...which goes into why we don't care to have medication aides, now. The major issue is that they are not licensed and in most cases, the nurse will take the fall if something goes wrong. Now, if I have to take responsibility for what someone else carelessly did or did not do, I might as well administer it myself.

A good CNA, MA, or other titles is worth their weight in gold...I say this again and again. At times, there is too much that a nurse has to do and if that weight can be taken off, sometimes, that can be a good thing. But, many nurses have been burned. I am sure, jillpaige, that because you have been posting here and am considering becoming a nurse yourself, you would be one of the ones that we would be glad to have.

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Specializes in School Nursing.
Like others, I believe that becoming a medication aide will certainly help you on the road to becoming a nurse. I used to be one at a psych hospital, and years later, when I took pharmacology and psych I remembered those classifications, side effects and behaviors like it all happened yesterday...I remembered them that well. Being exposed to medications, and then growing more into them while you are developing as a nurse will be a win win for you.

We were taught to obtain vital signs before giving certain medications, but our instructions were if they were above or below the provided parameters to inform the nurse. Some did, some didn't...which goes into why we don't care to have medication aides, now. The major issue is that they are not licensed and in most cases, the nurse will take the fall if something goes wrong. Now, if I have to take responsibility for what someone else carelessly did or did not do, I might as well administer it myself.

A good CNA, MA, or other titles is worth their weight in gold...I say this again and again. At times, there is too much that a nurse has to do and if that weight can be taken off, sometimes, that can be a good thing. But, many nurses have been burned. I am sure, jillpaige, that because you have been posting here and am considering becoming a nurse yourself, you would be one of the ones that we would be glad to have.

Thank you Pagandeva! :loveya:

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.
do they give scheduled meds or PRN meds that the doc may order?

i live in texas and iam a medication aide. yes we do administer narcartics (controlled substances) and yes we have to learn all the medication and the uses and side effects ect...

... if you cant spell "narcotics", there is no way on this planet you should be administering them! :twocents:
the nurses have so much work to do that they dont even have time to pass medication.

Isnt it amazing that administering medications is one of the most fundamental aspects of nursing, and they dont even have time to do it. Maybe the director of that facility needs to be thrown out on his/her ear!

I am a med aide, and the facility that I work has us med aides do everything. meds, narcotics, insulin, treatments, dressings, charting, support plans.....you name it. we had a 5 day class, now its down to 4 days and about a half an hour of actual hands on training on the floor before they stick you out there yourself terrible isnt it???

That sounds like the job description of a nurse, til you get to the 4 days of class and the half hour of clinicals to do it.:down:

the only thing we med aides are, are a cheap nurse....and its not right.

I agree jillpaige that being a med aide may benefit in one day arguing against their existence, and as i said before it would definitely do the most at preparing you to become a nurse. It is hard to say not to do it since it is there for you to do, but as a nurse you will not be happy to see your hard earned skills being handed out to people with just 4 days of training. A nursing major is so unbelievably hard compared to that. We had to stay up all night preparing for clinicals and go into the hospital on little or no sleep every week for years! In addition we had to have a 4.0 in all the prereqs just to get into the program! It has to be one of the hardest majors out there for sure...

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Specializes in School Nursing.

I totally agree with you Bradley. I worked so very hard for my A's in Anatomy, Physiology, Micro, and Pharmacology! I took two of these classes per semester (I had everything else completed already), worked a full-time job, and raised three kids on my own. That probably would get under my skin that a medication aide can come in with little training and pass meds. They cannot however push IVs or hand out narcotics, correct? Whew!! Well the hard work has paid off. I got into a program. Thanks for your post.

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Specializes in Geri, Home Health, OB GYN.

Becoming a med aide will definitely further you nursing abilities more than becoming a CNA, because their job is really a nursing skill

True, good lookin' out BradleyRN. I really like your post, they are infomative and nice. I am looking forward to more. Thanks :yeah:

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.
True, good lookin' out BradleyRN. I really like your post, they are infomative and nice. I am looking forward to more. Thanks :yeah:

Thank you so much!

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