Med admin times

I think it is wrong to wake up a patient just because the facility staff would be inconvenienced. If this were my loved on and I found out you were waking up Aunt Betty just to give her medication to her I would be fuming. Aunt Betty has worked for over 40 years and now enjoys sleeping in the mornings.

I would get a new medication order if you have to do it for no time except AM/PM this way you are covered. Placing time constraints on routine medication is only setting yourself up for failure. When the provider writes the order have them write... EXAMPLE Synthroid 20 mg once in AM and 20 mg once in PM. You just need to ensure it is routine and at the same time each day, and this is an example only as Synthroid is mcg and this example is not real.

The administration time should reflect what the patient schedule not the facility management, this is just selfish and greedy on the management.

There are alternative tasks the night shift can do to shoulder the many tasks that need to be completed. MAR updates are one of those. Reviews, Audits, Documentation....to many to list.

If my Aunt Betty was in this ALF I would transfer her to a better ALF, just for this greedy reason.

Yeah, that's weird. I understand the busy day shift schedule in a nursing home, but it's no reason to wake grandma up at 5am and shove pills down her throat. Ethically yucky.

I think if an organization I worked for supported this i.e. the DON etc. I'd be looking for another place to work. Check the policies. It's quite possible that the facility managers don't know about this more than likely unwritten policy (not like they're there at 5am) but tread carefully when you bring it up.

This is not meant to be snarky at all, I just can't think of a better way to say it.......Facilities often have policies and allowed procedures that violate the BON scope of Practice especially when it comes to their LVNs . So when the state does a surprise visit at 5am, do you think that stating 'I was told to give the 8 am meds at 5 or 6 am to help out day shift' is going to keep the facility from being fined,and you from being fired ( you WILL be the one thrown under the bus ) and reported to the BON ? Timed meds have to be given 59 minutes before the scheduled time up to 59 minutes after the scheduled time. (At least in the 5 states I've worked in over the last 30 years). I have worked at a facility that had the state show up at 5 in the morning without warning, because the patient complained to their family about being woken in the middle of the night for meds. They sat outside and waited for the nurse to wheel out her med cart, and caught her in the middle of administering 8 am meds at 5:15 am. The facility received a HUGE fine, and the nurse was fired,reported to the BON and lost his license. Just remember.... the BON rules are the same whether it's a hospital,SNF, or AL facility. I once applied for a job at a small (25 bed) rural hospital. The medical director (who was also the doctor who owned the hospital), tried to tell me that a PUBLIC HOSPITAL did not need to have a doctor in the building at all times, that because they were a small rural hospital, the rules were different for them. I didn't believe him so I checked with the Illinois BON, and just as I thought, he was full of it. I could have lost my license if I had taken that job.