Published
We have pill crushers that have individual little plastic bags. Pill splitters would be something that I would think pharmacy needs to address. If you are scanning and giving meds at bedside, then I would think you would need individual pill splitters. Just be sure you know your policy, that you are to waste the other half of the medication and where that goes--just a review. And to be sure you have a nursing care plan that somehow coordinates with the meds you give. I was reminded by an agency that if a patient is on pain control meds, they need a bowel care plan. Every time.
We have one pill splitter for the unit and I've never seen anyone clean it. I've always wondered about this. What if the person who's clonazepam we just split is highly allergic to the erythromycin the patient before only needed half of? For crushed pills we have one crusher but we sandwich the pill between to paper med cups and crush away.
FineAgain
372 Posts
The Joint Commission is visiting us this week. Seems they are telling us we now have to provide a pill splitter for every patient. I guess I understand the reasoning behind it but this seems a little excessive. Why not put the effort into education about cleaning it between uses. How does your facility handle this?