Giving meds in clinicals

[BeenThereDoneThat74]

i'll open this question up to educators and students (since students usually answer the educator questions anyway :roll ).

when do you start med administration in clinicals? is it necessarily in the first semseter? do you (or your students) give meds before pharmacology? i was speaking to some of my educator friends (who teach in different schools), and one said they don't do meds until they are at least taking pharm. the theory is that just 'looking up the med' the day befor or that morning is not sufficient.

i would love to hear feedback, not that it would change the rules at either school i teach at.

[bookwormom]

I teach sophomore clinical nursing in a BSN program. Students used to take pharmacology in the Spring semester of the sophomore year and started passing meds then, (Po, sc, Im, IV). Couple of years ago they moved Pharmacology to Jr year. (Still don't understand why). I'm told some faculty start students giving meds first semester sophomore year at the end. All students give meds sophomore year Spring semester, still no pharmacology except an intro session in the skills lab.

I think giving meds w/o pharmacology is a mistake. Looking up meds without understanding something of the big picture really isn't enough. Personally, I think students need two semesters of pharmacology. It's too much to cover well in one semester.

As an aside, I do think we could save time by eliminating ALL reference to apothecary systems and apothecary math from the curiculum. JCAHO recommends against their use.

[Guitar_Heroine]

We start passing meds a few weeks into our first semester. We also take pharmacology first semester and must pass a math test and demonstrate medication administration in a one-on-one scenario with our instructor. Our first semester is in LTC though, so we don't start IV meds till our 2nd (med-surg) semester.

[HHW2006]

I am a student. We started passing meds in our first clinical rotation (apprx 4 weeks in to school). None of us had taken pharm. We were required to research the meds before giving them and only one student each day passed meds with the instructor present.

[SarasotaRN2b]

Since medical administration is such an important facet of being a nurse, how come schools don't require a semester of pharmacology including math for meds before even getting into nursing school. This I am sure would be beneficial to nursing programs because the students that do pass the class (i.e. a minimum of a B in Pharmacology and 100% on med math drug tests, and not just one perfect school but multiple) will have a better chance at succeeding through school and also, it may help some students realize that if they can't get through a semester of pharmacology and medical math, they may need to look for another career choice.

JMHO

Kris

[dikay]

I teach med/surg clinicals to LPN students who have had clinical at usually a nursing home prior to coming to me. I do have them pass meds, but by this time they have had pharm. I don't think meds should be passed prior to having that class. I alternate who passes meds, having half the group pass meds one day, then the second half passing the second day. Hope this helps.:balloons:

[doliveri]

In the program where I teach, pharmacology is integrated through each course. The program offers a mandatory online pharm course in the first semester, but it concentrates on dosage calculation and not pharmacokinetics, which I think students do need. Our students do not start passing meds until the 13th week of a 16 week course which I think is too late!