Do any of you know much about these? They keep going on and on about it in my CNA class. I guess the state of North Carolina will be listing the position on the NC Board of Nursing next year. The instructors seem to think that a lot of opportunities and job openings will be avaliable to them.
Learn the skills and information you will need to take the state Med Tech Exam.
Our Med Tech class includes instruction on:
Safe medication administration
Proper infection control
Medical Terminology
Physician orders & transcribing
Medication monitoring techniques
Methods to monitor RX effects/side effects/adverse reactions
Proper storage of medications
Proper documentation procedures
Reference/resources in Rx administration.
I'm just wondering is this is something that's being "hyped up". Or if this will be a more common job.
The point is, nurses do the underlying assessments that include appropriate medication administration. We do not need or want (some of anyhow) med aides giving meds under our licensure. It would not ease my burden to have anyone who is unlicensed to give medications for me. It's something I want only licensed people to do, period. The BON does NOT relieve nurses of the liability and responsibility of errors or complications that arise from medication administration. If a med aide goes 'down" I guarantee you, the nurse will, as well. Leave it to nurses and nursing to give meds, period. It's just a measure to save money, not help anyone, including the aides, nurses or patients in our care.
In Texas, if a med aide makes an error that causes direct harm to a resident, the CMA goes under review for the error, not the Nurse. If a CMA makes an error it is investigated and is shown to have been a preventable problem (such as not taking the BP before a BP med is administered) then the CMA is the one that risks loosing their PERMIT (not a license, a permit in TX). If it were the normal monitoring that didn't take place, in the end that is the NURSES responsibility. In TX all medicare pt's are required to be charted on q24h. This, in turn, helps the recognition of side effects or changes in behavior from those particular pt's. Also, a CMA doesn't practice under the supervising nurses license, they practice under the facilities license/credentials. CMA's are held to the T by the Department of aging and dissability services (DADS). You say if a med aide goes "down" the nurse will, too. If you do your observations and pay close attention to certain things such as monitoring this can ultimately be a preventable measure allowing us nurses to have one less thing to "manage" and move it down to "monitor" as goes with your job description.
"realize, too, that most medication aides are probably not knowledgeable enough to get into nursing school, so you are definitely a cut above."
wow, that's pretty insulting. i don't really have what one would consider a valid opinion on the existence of med-aides, but to imply that one isn't smart enough to get into nursing school is just a biased or stereotyped opinion on your part.
i can only speak for my area, but in order to be a cma (certified medication aide), you have to have held an unencumbered cna certification for a certain amount of time (i think a year) and then take a 120 hour course. many cnas/med-aides are pre-nursing or nursing students. i realize that there are non-student ("career") cnas, but to insinuate that they couldn't get into nursing school is rude.
unless, or course, i completely misunderstood what you said. if that is the case, then please accept my apologies.
that being said, since we do not have med-aides that are not cnas, many cnas i know become med-aides as well because it gives them an extra $0.50/hr and is decent resume padding.....but as i have seen on this thread it is a slippery slope when there seems to be no standardized educational requirements nor clinical experience.
Medication is a hugh responsibility. I need to know a lot more about this issue before I can comment on it again. However, I did come across the word 'assessing' which I have a LOT of questions about. Anyone interested in this as a thread please respond. (I will not be around for the next couple of days but will check here early next week).
As always thanks for all the info I get from this site. It's great for patients/clients. :typing
skyseeker-I honestly don't care how much 'pharm' a CMT takes, or what the yearly refresher is...
Fact is, they are not nurses, they do NOT have the assessment skills or pathyphysiology to understand what they are doing.
Simple as that.
From my experience in the medical profession across a wide span of practice in different settings there is one thing that I can mention about LTC nursing and, with a family member in the State dept. of Health here in TX the one major problem that a large number of LICENSED nurses fail to do is truly watch for signs/symptoms/adverse reactions to new or continuing medications. Why is this so? Because the state departments within each state have enlisted so many other "tasks" to be completed during a shift which pushes the average nurse into "penciling" for pay. This whole discussion of a CMA's understanding of what is actually means to administer medications has turned out to be an attack on a trade, a vocational trade. Most people learn through experience and this includes CMA's throughout the field. People that feel CMA's "...do NOT have the assessment skills or pathyphysiology to understand what they are doing."are correct to the extent in that they do not have the extensive pathophysiology or the assessment skills that a nurse DEVELOPS over time. BUT, here in TX for the most part, CMA's do understand WHAT they are doing. I hate to see someone attack someone elses trade, something which they WORKED for and are doing to better themselves. There is a general consensus on this thread that points to nurses being more worried about their license versus patient care.
I hate to see someone attack someone elses trade, something which they WORKED for and are doing to better themselves.
I would never attack someone elses trade, unless they were stealing mine away from me with a 4 week certificate! It is an embarrassment to the values of this country that despite the high number of medication errors and injuries related to those errors that occur each year by actual licensed nurses and doctors, there could still arise a concept such as one that involves stripping the nurses of their skills that took years and straight A's to obtain, and giving them to people who qualify by simply having a name.
Medication Aides are the Frankenstein of a greedy health care industry. Im sure when we stopped adding lead to gasoline some jobs were lost in the process, but when something is a bad idea, it's a bad idea! :)
People that feel CMA's "...do NOT have the assessment skills or pathyphysiology to understand what they are doing."are correct to the extent in that they do not have the extensive pathophysiology or the assessment skills that a nurse DEVELOPS over time..
No Sky, here's where you are wrong. We are TRAINED in assessments and pathophys. We are tested both on paper and in person, for much longer than it takes a CMA to take a watered down test.
And we FURTHER develop these skills and assessments based on our base of knowledge.
Sorry Sky, but CMA cannot ever, ever compare to a nurse, and should never be given nursing duties. Pt lives are at stake-and they are being used with our most fragile and weak population.
Our number one role as Nurses is pt advocate. It's time we all started to advocate against this practice for our pts, since they obviously can't advocate for themselves in LTC.
And Sky, if this practice were truly acceptable, if it were really beneficial to pt care, then we'd start to see it infiltrate the hospital setting and bedside nurse.
But, in no way shape or form would we ever allow that to happen.
This is an old thread, which I wrote my opinion in 3 years ago. I will repeat it now to the folks who have just found it. CMAs in LTC are indispensible. Nurses in LTC cannot do it all for 100+ patients.
CMAs in LTC are indispensible. Nurses in LTC cannot do it all for 100+ patients.
That does not justify anything. The statistics regarding med errors amongst actual nurses and doctors are much larger than anyone who will eventually require such services is willing to tolerate. We are looking to scale back the errors, not square them. Only the most vulnerable members of society are subject to this sub-substandard care. As CardiacRN2006 said, you certainly dont see this pathetic standard of care practiced in hospitals.
The only way a med aide is indispensable, is if the elderly people they service are dispensable.
We don't use medication aides in hospitals (none that I'm aware of, anyway) and I don't know a SINGLE nurse that would allow one to pass meds on patients that the nurse is responsible for. Not one.
I don't like the attempted justification that in LTC, they are "indispensable". That false sense of security with the med aides is just a response to the lack of appropriate nursing staff in LTC, period. I bet if the nurses in LTC had no more than ten patients each, they too would be pretty firm that no one would pass meds on their patients but themselves.
But having a heavy patient load is no excuse for allowing an unlicensed person with a very limited knowledge of drugs, side effects, reasons for use, etc to give out a single pill, in my opinion. Memorizing the info from a card doesn't compare with the "but if they look like this, should I give this or that" scenario.
I work in a very acute setting. I have a heavy patient load all the time. I pass ALL my own meds, and while I don't have 30 patients, you can be darned sure I have ALOT of assessments and decisions to make on them all before throwing chemicals into them. I don't care if you are passing meds on 30 patients, you had better be 100% sure that it's appropriate in every single med instance. And the only way to do that is to do your own job, the NURSE'S job.
You live in hospital la-la land. What applies there, does not apply to long term care. Try working a Nursing Home to see what the "real world" of long term care is.
skyseeker2008
4 Posts
I know that in TX they use the same background check policies as they use standard in Nursing School entrance requirements. Just a note!