How long should it take to pass meds to 44 to 45 residents

Specialties Geriatric

Published

My question is how long should it take to pass meds to 44 to 45 residents was passing meds to 50 residents before. I seem to always be behind due to falls and incidents at the facility. When other nurses say they get done way quicker than me. I work 3-11 and seem to finish a half hour after my shift but then no time for charting, and when I do I end up leaving way past 12am. Plus have to count narcotics with other nurse at end of my shift. 3-11 SHIFT AND 11-7 SHIFT NURSE ONLY COUNTS THE NARCOTICS. That tends to take a while also and I feel I am rushing through my med pass and feel overwhelmed and stressed. Is 5 min per resident too much time or how long for each individual. Then treatments ect. At night I go through 3 large med carts. When things arise such as very ill patients on hospice and alarms going off. I have to constantly stop. When passing meds cant find the nurse assitance cause they in rooms laying residents down to bed. So I have to stop what I am doing and take care of problems. Example.. sitting back a resident down in chair who is a fall risk and dealing with residents with behavioral problems and that in one unit. I pass meds to first floor and second floor and another unit thats dementia and Alzheimer patients. I pass meds from 4pm to 630pm then 30 min lunch. At 7pm I start the night med pass to 44 residents as of now. I tend to be the slowest to get done and not sure why and its becoming very frustrating to me. I am constantly getting calls from nurse assistants and have o stop and check on situation.

Specializes in LTC.

realnursealso/LPN,

I could NOT AGREE MORE!

djsugar,

I'm glad to hear you never pre-pour THAT is 100% unacceptable. It sounds to me like we suspected at the beginning....You just have WAY too many patients!

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It takes me 3hrs to do my first med pass to 35-40 pts...yes probably "too" long in some people eye's but I do my job right. I pull everything right off the MAR & sign as I go along & get stopped frequently for alarms, etc.

I work 12 hour shifts but am always there 15-16 hours.

I am very fortunate to work in a facility where alot of the meds are scheduled at 5 different times in a 24 hours shift....so day shift has 3 passes & night shift has 2 passes. While there are some variations on diff antibiotics & such it's so much easier having the majority scheduled around the same basic times. So I only have around 10 meds that are on their own times.

I start at 5:30am (shift starts at 6 tech) - The first 30 minutes of my shift I get report & collect any additional paperwork I will need on my cart for the day ie- 72 follow up sheets, antibiotic sheets, etc. Right after report, before I stock my cart I initialize all breathing treatments that are scheduled for 6am...while those are all going I stock my cart then go back & take everyone off their breathing treatments.

After my 1st pass I restock my cart & start on my 2nd pass...usually takes me about 1.5 hrs as that one is only around 17-20 residents.

I keep a notebook on my cart with me so I can jot down anything I need to follow up on or document.

Ie-

Rm 33B - Name -Resident's L eye looks red 9:18am

Rm 55A - Name - Glucose 424 9:23am - admin 10u novolin per sliding scale - no altered neuro status noted - recheck 1hr (I then highlight the recheck 1hr as a reminder to myself)

Recheck 10:20am - Glucose 255

I often don't sit down to chart until my shift ends....as between med passes, call bells/alarms, etc...paperwork isn't my priority when I am on the floor. Once my relief arrives & I report off it's paperwork city. While it's rather insane I do love it & would stop a med pass in a second if a resident needed me.....thats how it should be.

Don't beat yourself up or cut corners.....as you know you are doing it the right way....for me that's how I sleep well at night.

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Specializes in ICU, M/S,Nurse Supervisor, CNS.

When I worked LTC we were assigned about 28 residents each on days and evenings, and 42 at night (that was if all rooms were occupied). Even after some time it took me over 2 hours for the big med passes. I remember when I worked days, I'd begin my pass right after report and didn't finish until after 1000 usually. I don't think I ever left on time because after all the meds, treatments, wound care and other actual patient care activities, there still came the documentation of these tasks. It was hard work, but I enjoyed it because I loved the residents and my coworkers (even though we drove each other nuts from time to time).

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Specializes in Labor and Delivery and skilled nursing..

I find myself doing a 2 hour med pass. I like to talk to my residents. Find out how there day is...etc.. If someone thinks you can take the person out of nursing and just make us mindless robots then you are in the wrong profession.

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45 residents is pure insanity; they should have 2 nurses for that many!

Agree with pp, nurses who "manage" to give their meds etc. "on time" do it by taking unconscionable shortcuts. Unacceptable for any nurse who cares about her pts (and license).

Unfortunately, management only loves to buy into this "it's doable" mentality by looking the other way. In an environment like this, responsible nurses - who actually try to give all meds, txs, etc. - cannot survive.

You owe it to yourself to find another job. If enough nurses walked away, maybe they would change these ridiculous ratios!

DeLana

P.S. Unfortunately, it's always the residents who are the real losers.... good nurses leave (eventually), shortcut queens deprive them of good nursing care :(

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That's crazy... that's way too many patients in my opinion, but I'm still new. At my hospital they are working out a system so that any nurse who is in the process of passing meds cannot be disturbed by others except in an emergency. I'm not sure what the system will be. One example we were shown was of a facility where nurses wear signs that say "medication administration in progress, do not disturb!" on their backs when they are passing meds.

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Specializes in geriatrics, IV, Nurse management.
My question is how long should it take to pass meds to 44 to 45 residents was passing meds to 50 residents before. I seem to always be behind due to falls and incidents at the facility. When other nurses say they get done way quicker than me. I work 3-11 and seem to finish a half hour after my shift but then no time for charting, and when I do I end up leaving way past 12am. Plus have to count narcotics with other nurse at end of my shift. 3-11 SHIFT AND 11-7 SHIFT NURSE ONLY COUNTS THE NARCOTICS. That tends to take a while also and I feel I am rushing through my med pass and feel overwhelmed and stressed. Is 5 min per resident too much time or how long for each individual. Then treatments ect. At night I go through 3 large med carts. When things arise such as very ill patients on hospice and alarms going off. I have to constantly stop. When passing meds cant find the nurse assitance cause they in rooms laying residents down to bed. So I have to stop what I am doing and take care of problems. Example.. sitting back a resident down in chair who is a fall risk and dealing with residents with behavioral problems and that in one unit. I pass meds to first floor and second floor and another unit thats dementia and Alzheimer patients. I pass meds from 4pm to 630pm then 30 min lunch. At 7pm I start the night med pass to 44 residents as of now. I tend to be the slowest to get done and not sure why and its becoming very frustrating to me. I am constantly getting calls from nurse assistants and have o stop and check on situation.

I have 80 residents, and it takes me an hour for supper meds, and an hour and a 1/2 for bedtime meds. I work 3-11 a few days every couple weeks. I'm usually on nights. I find with more practice, my times got better. No one likes interruptions, but I find even with a fall I can still complete my pass on time. You can do it - just will take some time:)

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Specializes in geriatrics.

How do you pass meds to 80 in an hour and a half? Even with practice? I can't get my meds done in that time and I have 30 residents. 27 of them actually receive night meds. Just curious...

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Specializes in ICU/PACU.

wow. sometimes it takes me 2 hours to give my AM meds to 4 patients lol. I mean, by the time you crush the meds, help them with whatever they need, etc..

kudos to you guys!

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Specializes in LTC.
I have 80 residents, and it takes me an hour for supper meds, and an hour and a 1/2 for bedtime meds. I work 3-11 a few days every couple weeks. I'm usually on nights. I find with more practice, my times got better. No one likes interruptions, but I find even with a fall I can still complete my pass on time. You can do it - just will take some time:)

I'm going to be honest here.. I don't believe you. Because theres no way to do 80 residents in an hour. unless you prepour and have every one lined up. Are you doing it correctly?. Reading the MAR, giving the supplements, handwashing inbetween residents, etc

I had 21 pretty low key residents Saturday and Sunday. It took me 2 1/2 hours to get my medpass done. And I go pretty quick. I know my residents, Ii'm on my regular hallway. I have everything set up.

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Specializes in Long term care.

In my facility on nightshift , the ratio is 53:1. I dont know about you but I did not go into nursing to care for 53 people at one time. If you are not finishing the med pass within the 2 hours legally allowed maybe you could suggest staggering the hall times half way down. That would give you 3 hours. Good luck.

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How are you safely administering meds to 80 people they must only get one med each. No crushing or holding the cup completely independent and are you making sure the are swallowing those meds

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