JCAHO Requirement

[FineAgain]

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?

[flipflopsNsweetTea]

We have pill splitters for every patient. Pill crushers too

[MendedHeart]

We have 2 pill cutters and clean in between patients. The Joint commission is concerned with it being cleaned after use and if staff knows what pills cannot be split.

[nrsang97, BSN, RN]

We have pill crushers and pill splitters for every patient.

[MendedHeart]

We have pill splitters for every patient. Pill crushers too

Wow, do u work in a hospital or LTC?

[ChipNurse]

Each patient gets their own pill splitter. I think it is a bit excessive, but it doesn't offend me either. On the bright side, each patient should have one in their med bin, so you usually don't have to hunt it down.

[MendedHeart]

Yea Im with you^^^

Not very cost effective but nice to have.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

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.

[FineAgain]

Too bad we can't develop a pill splitter with plastic bags like the crushers...we could make a fortune. I just think its a little excessive...and expensive. We don't use them on every patient though so it might not be that bad...

[blondy2061h, MSN, RN]

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.

[classicdame, MSN, EdD]

we have one for each patient. Cheaper than lawsuit

[Aurora77]

We have individual pill splitters. They're kept in the Omnicell so we can pull them when needed. It seems a bit wasteful, but before we went to single patient splitters, the old ones were always dirty.