Is it legal to put patches on residents?

caliotter3 · Jul 7, 2010

Assume you are talking about a medication patch. In my state we do not have medication aides. Only the nurse can do this. A nurse in a facility where I once worked was fired because the family watched a CNA do this after the nurse asked her to. The CNA allegedly was a "nurse" in her country, unfortunately, not a nurse here. Never administer meds until you get your nursing license.

rosey2007cna · Jul 7, 2010

I do have a nurse delegation but that means that I have to be delegated for each different resident by a RN(which this company did not have on staff). Being a non medical home health agency I do not think that I should have been asked to put the patch on this woman in the first place. I was under the impression that I would only have to give med reminders.

Intern67 · Jul 8, 2010

I am 99% sure that I was right about this but wanted to make sure. Needless to say the client did not want me back as her care giver.

You would be 100% right if you worked for the places I have. (CNA/HHA)

I cannot apply a patch on a client. I can remind and/or assist a client to put a patch on themselves.

Truth be told, in the case of some patients who live at home/are on hospice care/reported severe pain - I have provided "maximum assistance."

caliotter3 · Jul 8, 2010

Have no idea what you are talking about with "nurse delegation". Never heard of it. But you are correct with the non medical agency portion. And medical or non medical, nursing assistants and home health aides can only do reminders, not administer meds, except for whatever you are talking about, I assume. Just make certain you follow the guidelines put out by your state authorities on the matter. If it takes an RN to delegate the task to you and your agency did not provide an RN to do that, and you know all this, the agency is dead wrong and they know it. Continue to follow the rules, that way you won't get hurt now or later by illegal actions.

elkpark · Jul 8, 2010

Applying a medication patch to someone is administering medication just the same as giving pills or an injection. If you're not allowed to give someone pills or an injection, you're not allowed to apply a patch -- simple as that.

LaterAlligator · Jul 8, 2010

I think you were right here, you shouldn't be applying med patches any more than you'd be putting pills into someone's mouth or injecting their insulin for them. If your company told you to just do "med reminders" then they probably clarified that for you as far as pills, right? That you can hand someone the pills with an "assistive device" of some sort (ie you can put one into the cap of the bottle and hand them the cap and the pill) but not directly from your hand to theirs? If that's the case, maybe you can open the patch, put it in your client's hand, and even guide their arm to help them apply the patch to themselves, but not actually do it yourself. That would be what I did, just to be careful.

Sorry your client had a problem with you following the law!

rosey2007cna · Jul 8, 2010

Yea I was sure that I was right and I did not want to put my license on the line.

CrazierThanYou · Jul 14, 2010

I am a nursing student, CNA, and medication aide. I can apply patches but like I said, I am a medication aide.

rosey2007 · Jul 14, 2010

I am a nursing student, CNA, and medication aide. I can apply patches but like I said, I am a medication aide.

In your case you probably have an RN on staff who will have to take responsiblity if something goes wrong. At a previous place of employment I was a Med tech and had an RN who was responsible for me.

The place that I was working at that tried to get me to put a pain patch on someone was a non medical home health agency. That means there was no RN on their staff to delagate me to put the pain patch on.