Interruptions during my med pass

Nurses Safety

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  1. How many interruptions have you experienced in one med pass?

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15 members have participated

I am sure this subject has been covered here but it is a problem that continues to put

patients in jeopardy.

Just yesterday, I was working the 3-11 shift at a LTC facility. We do have a policy that nurses are not to be interrupted during the med pass unless there's an emergency. It's a policy that is easily overlooked. I counted eight times during my 8 PM med pass I was interrupted and out of those eight times I had five near-misses (or near-hits) meaning I caught the med error before the patients were harmed. It really bothered me that I almost gave the wrong meds to the wrong patient because my supervisor interrupted me to ask me if a patient is wearing a cervical collar (she could've checked this herself) or a family member is in a panic because her mother didn't eat all her dinner. The crazy thing about all this is that I went along and investigated these things while I was in the middle of pouring. Next meeting, I will bring this subject up. The last facility I worked we reported near-misses as well as med errors for quality assurance. I will also make this suggestion. Any other ideas?? Thanks in advanced.

Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

I know this is an older post but still, it was relevant then and is still relevant now. Eliminating interruptions during med pass is unrealistic, I would even say impossible in some settings. I work in a SNF and a med pass takes two hours at least. The odds of having no interruptions in that amount of time are zero!

Best we can do is say "wait until I am done with this resident's meds" when interrupted unless it is something that requires immediate attention. Those unavoidable interruptions happen way more often than I like. If a mobility alarm is going off trust me I'm stopping whatever I'm doing to respond. If a resident falls that med pass is just going to have to wait anyway. I'd rather answer that alarm and hopefully prevent that fall before it happens.

On the other hand if it's one of the multiple interruptions by staff for non-emergent requests I have no problem telling them they'll have to wait until I'm finished with my med pass or least with the resident's meds that I am currently working on. The family interruptions are a little trickier since you sure can't be perceived as ignoring their request but on the other hand should I really have to interrupt my med pass to get so and so a glass of water? When there's not a CNA in sight that could do it because they are just as busy as I am of course between residents I am fetching that glass of water. The pages for phone calls I wait to answer until I am done with the resident I am working on but they can only be on hold so long so again between resident's I am answering phone calls. With all the interruptions it's no wonder the med pass takes two hours or more!

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Specializes in Mental Health.

I have never had so many med pass interruptions as I do at my current job. I work in mental health where the patients are ambulatory and medically stable for the most part. Translates to: patients are constantly at the desk! Pre-Covid they had access to water and other beverages in the day area. After Covid, they decided to put all the drinks behind the nurses station. Keep in mind, not only are the patients ambulatory, but most of them have poor boundary issues. They aren’t able to reason and see that the nurse is passing meds and this may not be a good time to ask for the 3rd glass of lemonade. I am not exaggerating when I tell you that I am stopping in the middle of pulling my meds to pour dang water or lemonade 20 times! I hate speaking on it because I know there are people who are going to think it’s just me being a nurse that doesn’t want to do basic tasks like get patients a drink. That’s not the case. It’s a real safety issue. Everything has changed with Covid and I’m not sure what the answer is, but having the nurses stop to pour lemonade during med passes is not it! 

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Specializes in Med Surg.

One reason I hate rehab.

There is one CNA for 12 residents on night shift.

I have to pass meds starting around 5:30am,but dammit so many patients have to to use the bathroon when I have to wake them up to take meds. We are expected to answer call lights and toilet the resident. That takes over 30 minutes of my time. CNA's have to do AM care for three residents,so I cant just tell a resident "Wait for the CNA". Then it gets hectic around change of shift because some CNA's just stand around talking while I am trying to answer call lights and toilet.

It might be time for me to go back to homecare. 

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.
On 12/20/2021 at 1:53 PM, Iluvnightshift said:

One reason I hate rehab.

There is one CNA for 12 residents on night shift.

I have to pass meds starting around 5:30am,but dammit so many patients have to to use the bathroon when I have to wake them up to take meds. We are expected to answer call lights and toilet the resident. That takes over 30 minutes of my time. CNA's have to do AM care for three residents,so I cant just tell a resident "Wait for the CNA". Then it gets hectic around change of shift because some CNA's just stand around talking while I am trying to answer call lights and toilet.

It might be time for me to go back to homecare. 

One CNA for 12 residents on a night shift is actually an almost unheard of ratio. The SNF I worked for had one CNA to 12 or 13 residents on days, the night shift was one CNA to 24-28 and we were one of the better staffed facilities

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Specializes in ICU.
On 8/3/2013 at 8:04 AM, Nspirit said:

I am sure this subject has been covered here but it is a problem that continues to put

patients in jeopardy.

Just yesterday, I was working the 3-11 shift at a LTC facility. We do have a policy that nurses are not to be interrupted during the med pass unless there's an emergency. It's a policy that is easily overlooked. I counted eight times during my 8 PM med pass I was interrupted and out of those eight times I had five near-misses (or near-hits) meaning I caught the med error before the patients were harmed. It really bothered me that I almost gave the wrong meds to the wrong patient because my supervisor interrupted me to ask me if a patient is wearing a cervical collar (she could've checked this herself) or a family member is in a panic because her mother didn't eat all her dinner. The crazy thing about all this is that I went along and investigated these things while I was in the middle of pouring. Next meeting, I will bring this subject up. The last facility I worked we reported near-misses as well as med errors for quality assurance. I will also make this suggestion. Any other ideas?? Thanks in advanced.

The family member you can't help/stop; the supervisor should know better if this is an actual policy.  You could say,"no, Im not sure, but Im doing a med pass right now, and don't we have a policy that Im not supposed to be interrupted?" (with your best sweet smile)  If it continues, or they argue, you could write an incident report; but be ready to look for another job.  

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