I need some help

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Hello, I'm new here but I have to write a research paper for my Leadership class and my topic Medication aides. I want to write about the pros and cons on the subject matter and to have the opinions of those nurses who have worked with med aides. Thank you for your help,

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Specializes in Education, FP, LNC, Forensics, ED, OB.

hello, kmpena and welcome to allnurses.com

i moved your thread to the nursing student assistance forum for a better response.

good luck in school. we hope you enjoy the site.

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Specializes in Cardiac.
Hello, I'm new here but I have to write a research paper for my Leadership class and my topic Medication aides. I want to write about the pros and cons on the subject matter and to have the opinions of those nurses who have worked with med aides. Thank you for your help,

In my opinion, there are no pros to the use of medication aids. I must also note that I've never worked with medication aids, and I know you were looking for the opinions of those who have.

Nurses who have work with med aides, are usually terribly overworked and need all the help they can get.

They don't need a Med aide, then need less patients and more nurses. It's the wrong way to solve a problem.

They are in long term care places, but soon, they will infiltrate hospitals. It is a dangerous situation for all nurses who work with them and patients who's meds they are passing.

Just MHO...

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What do you think is going to happen when there are even more patients when the baby boomers begin to need more help and with the nursing shortage how are we going to handle the over draft of paitents,

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Specializes in Cardiac.

Not with medication aids. Just because there will be more patients doesn't mean we sacrifice thier safety with a band-aid fix.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

this has been a hot topic of debate on several of the allnurses forums. here are links to two of the threads that i recall where it was specifically discussed. i am sure there are others. you will find plenty of opinions about medication aides on these two threads:

https://allnurses.com/forums/f195/medication-aids-162087.html

https://allnurses.com/forums/f99/medication-aides-ohio-188992.html

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Specializes in Critical Care, Pediatrics, Geriatrics.

The only 'pro' that I see regarding the use of medication aides is that it will decrease some of the workload on the nurse.

However, that 'pro' is negated by several CONS. First being patient safety. Usually, these med aides are poorly trained and there is no standard to their training or qualifications. One facility may train their aide for a month while another gives a quick one week class.

Second, there is the ambiguity of where liability falls if the med aide makes an error. Usually, the nurse is ultimately responsible for unlicensed personnel and the patient's outcome. As a nurse, I would not feel comfortable delegating medication administration even if it was allowed by my state Nurse Practice Act (which it is NOT). So I definitely don't want a facility that hires UAPs for this purpose, therefore, forcing me to pass on this responsibility.

Last, one of the most important aspects about safe medication administration is the ability to assess the pt for the need of that med, possible contraindications, and how the patient reacts to the med after administration. This is a huge responsibility and therefore has a large amount of liability attached to it. It is why nurses are nurses. We are trained in assessment. That degree of knowledge and skill does not need to be substituted for someone who has the bare minimum of knowledge regarding med administration.

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Specializes in med/surg, telemetry, IV therapy, mgmt.

ok, before you all get started on this, i will state my view on this just as i did on the previous threads. i am for medication aides. i don't see a problem with facilities using them. i've worked in nursing homes and, believe me, they free up the licensed nurses so we can do other things. we also had treatment aides who were unlicensed to help us out.

20+ years ago in ohio, lpns did not have the right to pass medications. when the ohio legislature passed the amendments to the nursing laws allowing this and the hospital i worked for mandated that all the lpns on staff had a year and a half to take the necessary medication course and get state certified to pass medications you should have heard the moaning and complaints! they came from both camps, rns and lpns alike. since then, medication administration has been made part of the lpn curriculum in all ohio lpn courses. now, all the arguments that you'll hear asserted for the reason why medication aides are a bad idea were all voiced back then about lpns passing medications. and, you what? the doctors have been the ones doing the complaining when rns have been given some of the right to do the things that only doctors had previously been able to do in the past. ivs never were an rn thing until state legislatures started passing laws making it so. some doctors were vociferously against it.

as long as the state boards are controlling the certification of medication aides by placing the requirements on the kind of training they must have, i don't see a problem. the people on the state boards don't just pull these rules out of thin air. these are educated professionals who examine and study research data before making monumental decisions. they hold public meetings and ask for opinions before these medication aide programs are put into place.

so, before you trash whatever state is doing this, take the time to pull up their state law and actually read the part about medication aides to inform yourself as to just what this classification of healthcare worker can and can't do. as future rns and lpns you need to know this for your delegation and supervision responsibilities. having said my peace, i will now sit back and watch the show. have a fun discussion.

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:balloons: I would like to thank everyone who logged on and help provide their opinion and information for this paper that I'm writing for my leadership class. I'll let you all know how I did.

KMPena LPN (RN student)

:balloons:

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