Med Administration Times

[vincrawford]

I currently work at a place that shall remained a mystery, it is a correctional facility. The bulk of the med pass is done by CMAs, myself a nurse may only be responsible for the infirmary pts. That being said, I was told, am meds can be passed at anytime as long as it is on the am shift, and pm can be passed at anytime as long as it is on the pm shift.

I of course could not then, nor now find a policy with the building schedule for med times. I have brought this to my supervisor who is not a nurse, and the response was an email from our MD via another nurse..see below;

As per Dr. SOANDSO AM/ PM medications do not have a specific time of administration he stated for AM meds to be given anytime from 0600-0900, for PM meds anytime from 1600-2000 with the exception Q8H meds. I really hope this eliminates any further confusion.

This is in contrast to all of my years of nursing in which you have an hour before, after or 30 mins before after...any thoughts? I have emailed the TXBON for direction and I am currently awaiting a response.

Thanks

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

As per Dr. SOANDSO AM/ PM medications do not have a specific time of administration he stated for AM meds to be given anytime from 0600-0900, for PM meds anytime from 1600-2000 with the exception Q8H meds. I really hope this eliminates any further confusion.

I'd see about getting this written as policy, since you have from your medical director when their intended times are. (And yes, I agree the "any time on day shift" etc needed to be clarified. A BID med could have been given at 1430 on day shift, and 1600 on PM shift.)

Depending on how many residents each MA/LPN/RN has to give to, the 2 hr window may be truly impossible to safely use...let alone a 1 hr window. I've never heard of this being a nurse practice act/BON standard, but rather facility policy. The first hospital I worked at had a different interval depending on frequency -- so a daily med had 1 hr before or after, a q 8 hr med had 1/2 hr a/p, a q 4 hr med had 15 min a/p. The LTC floors of a SNF I used to work in (where a nurse/TMA could have 30 residents to medicate) would have meds timed "am" or "pm" because who can really safely pass meds to 30 people plus assess complaints and give prns in 2 hrs?)

[dishes, BSN, RN]

The med pass is safe for the patients, why is this a concern that would be directed to the BON?

[brownbook]

I'm assuming these patients are not in the infirmary, not in need of acute care, receiving their routine meds they've been on for some time.

The sometime between 6 and 9 order seems very appropriate? I don't take my lisinopril between 8:30 and 9:30 every night! Gosh, sometimes I take it at 8 sometimes I take it at 10:30!

The Institute for Safe Medical Practice, you can Google it, has a lot of information on medication delivery.