Giving meds without instructor

[sweetsmile]

Well we just lost two more students we started out with 47 and now we are down to 26 and we are only in the second quarter. However these students didn't fail out they were giving meds to pt's without our instructor or the RN. The RN would give them the meds and they would go down to the room and give it to the pt's. We all knew that we had to have either our instructor or the RN well now they are out !!! becareful follow the rules be safe..

[lunden]

wow, i'm thinking they should have known better

[Crux1024]

Wow...they definitely shouldve known better. I do NOTHING (as far as d/c IVs, foley caths even dressing changes) without first informing my instructor of whats going on. She will then tell me if she needs to accompany me or not.

I feel bad for them...they shouldve thought it through.

[RN2B123]

the preceptors I have had have let us give medications by ourselves to patients as long as they see us take out the package and sign the MAR but we can go in the room and give them to the pt ourselves

[ohmeowzer RN, RN]

gees they should never even tried that.. they dispensed meds without a license... bad news ... they should of known better than that....

[jjjoy, LPN]

Apparently, whether or not students are allowed to give meds without direct supervision varies. I can imagine the RNs may have had students who WERE allowed to give meds without direct supervision and may have assured the students it wasn't any problem for them to do so as well. The nurse may have thought it was enough supervision to check that the meds were correct. Clearly, the instructor had different rules. Whether or not the students should be failed for that I guess depends on how clear it was made not to do that.

Though if the situation was like above, and the meds where reviewed with and okayed by the nurse, immediate failure would seem rather drastic as I don't think patient safety was threatened. Even just by the second quarter, students should be able to be trusted to make sure they are administering the meds to the right patient, though I understand the instructor wanting to physically oversee every step. I could see a strong warning with the threat of failure if instructor rules again weren't followed or a failed grade for that clinical day as a more reasonable measure.