leaving meds at bedside

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Specializes in Med-Surg, LTC.

I work in a sub-acute/rehab unit with a long term care section. It's always been my understanding that you cannot just walk in, leave a person's pills on thier tray table, walk out, and mark that you gave them. Is this correct? I am a supervisor and occasionally work on the floor, it is astonishing to me how many times aides or family members come up to me with pills, "i found this on the floor" or "this was on my mom's table, is she supposed to take it?" Am I wrong?

ETA: There are a few patients who do have physician orders stating, "OK to leave meds at bedside" but these are few.

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You are correct. Meds can only be left at the bedside with a signed doctor's order. When family members or visitors are finding meds on the floor or around the unit, then something is amiss. Supposed to insure resident takes the med. Of course, there will always be something that falls on the floor that one can't find right away.

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Believe me state would have a field day if they found that. Nurses are supposed to stay and make sure the meds are taken - no matter how alert and oriented a patient is.

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I have NEVER left meds at the bedside...even more so when I briefly worked LTC and had other residents roaming all over the ward!

Only with a written order should you leave meds at the bedside.

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i posted a thread very similar to this situation. my question was, what is the proper way of handling this if you walked into a pt's room and found meds by the bedside.... do you remove it or do you check it against its orders?

this question was on an exam, which i found it very vague. I would take it and check the orders but the answer stated a) remove it , b) check the orders .... i'm thinking, if u take it w/ u to check the order... isn't that removing it also?

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Transplant, Education.

Leaving meds at the bedside is a big no-no without a doctors order. The most I've seen an order for is to leave inhalers or eye drops/nasal sprays at bedside, and in that case the patient needs to have an assessment in their chart regarding self-administration of meds.

I know people must leave meds at bedside all the time...I also work sub-acute rehab and forever have people saying that I can "just leave it there for them" and they'll take it. I always tell them that I can't speak for what others do, but that it's my personal policy to make sure you take the meds when I'm signing that you take them. If they don't want the meds at that time, I tell them to put on their call light when they are ready and I'll come back.

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i posted a thread very similar to this situation. my question was, what is the proper way of handling this if you walked into a pt's room and found meds by the bedside.... do you remove it or do you check it against its orders?

this question was on an exam, which i found it very vague. I would take it and check the orders but the answer stated a) remove it , b) check the orders .... i'm thinking, if u take it w/ u to check the order... isn't that removing it also?

If you find meds at the bedside, you have no idea when they were put there and by whom. So even if you check them, do you know how long there were there? I've found meds too many times to count. I've found syringes filled with (I assume) insulin. In some cases you can make an educated guess on what it is or when it was there, but it is just a guess. Best bet is to notifiy the charge nurse - they can determine what might of been missed and if you should give those meds again. At least that is what I was taught.

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Unless such a patient has physician's orders- I think it is a bad bad practise to leave medication at bedside.

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Specializes in Med-Surg, LTC.

Thanks for the quick replies! I wanted to make sure I wasn't blowing something out of proportion. I've talked to my superiors about it, they just brush it off. To me it's a big deal!

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the only thing that i would dare to leave bedside is an orange juice for a pt whoes meal is late.

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Specializes in Hospital Education Coordinator.

even with an MD order sounds like trouble to me. You can not assume the patient took the med vs someone else, or it was lost, or patient took several at once----. If they don't need nursing supervision why are they in your facility?

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Had someone leave a BP med at the bedside. Pt didn't take it until two hours after it was marked as given . When I did her vitals BP was quite elevated. Thank goodness she was with it and could tell me what happened so I just rechecked her and BP was fine. Might not have ended up so great had I called the MD and gotten a now order for something.

Just seems like a bad outcome waiting to happen.

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