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

[djsugar]

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.

[Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN]

I feel so much better about the time it takes me to pass my meds now. Thanks everyone. :)

Gotta say I have never heard of anyone giving ALL the 3-11 meds at the same time. That nurse needs a license revoked. UNSAFE! In some cases that is doubling up on BP meds. I wonder what the falls are at that facility....

Thats actually how we get done. 3-11 has one less nurse than day shift. So therefore.. we must do a heavy med pass on top of everything else that happens during the shift. I've come across very few 3-11 nurses that don't give all the meds at once. I certainly hope those who do, use common sense. You wouldn't give a narcotic, cardiac drug, antibiotic or insulin early. Those you have to go back for.

[mazy]

I work 3-11 and don't give all my meds at once. I don't prepour either. And I've got some very complex patients. But I guess I'm lucky because I only have 25 patients and some fantastic CNAs, along with a good charge team and support staff who do nothing but circulate through the facility and pick up the slack when we are drowning. It can be done. But it takes a good facility that is committed to good patient care and is willing to provide the resources to do it.

I'm reading all of these posts and suddenly realizing how lucky I am. I've worked in facilities that were so awful that made me hate this profession so much that I didn't know what I was going to do. I won't deny that nursing can be horrible no matter where you are -- the politics and personalities and conflicts are the same wherever you go -- but it's great to be able to go in to work and know that management actually is invested in good patient care. It makes me remember why I became a nurse.

It also makes me even more angry when I see that good patient care can be done but there are so many facilites that are so corrupt that they don't even care. The system is morally bankrupt.

Fortuantely on this board I can see that there are good, caring nurses who are not willing to just give up and accept that.

[Forever Sunshine, ASN, RN]

I tried prepouring once and it took twice as long because I kept second guessing myself. I will never prepour and really discourage doing that.

One thing I'm becoming concerned with .. distractions during the medpass are UNBELIEVABLE where I work. I try to not interrupt other nurses during their medpass because I hate when its done to me.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

I've told my NAs, unless they are getting sick or dying, do not bother me during the med pass.

[royhanosn]

could be a day or morning. depends on how organized a nurse is! Sounds like overworked RN.

[PGWLPN]

That's just too darn many residents to be responsible for. Where's your Charge Nurse? Has anything been said about punching out late? You sound like a terrific nurse, but you're gonna get BURNED OUT. Can you cut back on your hours girl you need a break. Yes I work LTC but my residents have no swallowing or behavioral problems and love to take their meds from the NURSE, plus I've only got 20 residents.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Wow, no behavioural problems in LTC? Where do you work? That's almost unheard of :)

[PillPusher1]

I'm an older nurse. I've been there done that. So Medicine pass is not a new thing to me. I've had experience with Bingo type card pass in the past.

However, for all you starting out, let me tell you, UNTILL you get to know your patients, you will be slower than usual. I'd rather have a slow BUT accurate pass, than one that is rushed and errors made.

I DO know how things go. Some have meds all set up before the pass. BAD idea. What if something happens and you have to leave? Not only have you left medicines to waste, but cost is phenomenal, and there ya have it. Patients are people. You have a huge responsibility with regards to medication. I don't care WHAT degree you have behind your name. It's a huge responsibility AND a blessing that you can have.

With that being said, I recently took a position after years of working in other fields, BACK to a LTC facility giving ONLY the meds. Just meds. I too, had a learning curve, again. I had to learn my patients, who to crush, who not to crush, and who would refuse that Protein supplement!

In allllll the experience I've had, and familiar with the Med Pass routines, it STILL takes me 2 hours on a hall for BT meds, for 30 patients. And I have 2 halls. So 4 hours on a med cart at night. I don't think I can trim it any closer.

I think the DON would like me to, so I can help the Nurses NOT giving meds, but then really? I'm now doing their jobs AND mine.

I don't pre-pull any meds, and always, always, ALWAYS read the MAR like my Bible. If it's not there, it's not given. If it's a new medication, not in yet, I have to stop and go get it from our Emergency backup IF we have it.

SO don't stress over trying to RACE. Stress if you're not able to READ, and you are cutting corners. FAST is not the goal here.