Can student administer medication without RN supervision?

[AnneN]

Is it possible (legal) for a student nurse to administer medication without supervision of the preceptor nurse or the clinical instructor?

I know it happens all the time, and often if the student makes a mistake, she is severely penalized.

I am wondering whether it is possible for the hospital, preceptor nurse or clinical instructor to allow the student nurse to administer medication without providing supervision through every step of the way.

I was told by someone that it is illegal (against Nurse Practice Act in most states) for a student to administer medication even if it is P.O., and that an RN must be with the student through every step of the process.

Is this true? Is this law different from state to state? Or is this pretty much the same in all states?

[redhead_NURSE98!, ADN, BSN]

Sorry. We pushed narcotics etc. with instructors present almost every time.

[inthere]

In my program students. Cannot under any circumstances pass meds without the instructor

[anonymousstudent]

This is a bit off topic, but from reading, it sounds like many of the students here are giving only PO or non-narcotic meds. Those who are giving meds without direct supervision - are you doing things more like passing colace and the like or more along the lines of pushing dilaudid?

I was pushing Dilaudid. By myself. From start to finish.

[cbreuklander]

When I was a student, once the clinical instructor was confident in our ability, we were allowed to take meds in to patients unsupervised. However, we were not allowed to go into the patient's room without the instructor or primary care nurse first looking at the meds we were taking in.

[Double-Helix, BSN, RN]

When I was in my senior partnership I did things completely independently. pulled meds from pixis, checked the patients id, checked parameters, gave the meds (PO, sub cu, IV Push, hung IVs, inhalers, nebulizers and narcotics) and charted. The only thing I could not do is pull narcotics from the pixis (but could administer without supervision) and change drip rates on heparin and insulin alone. My preceptor was obviously comfortable with me doing this and would answer any questions I had.