Med pass practice

I was wondering what other facilities do to make sure med pass has limited interruptions? We currently use a bright yellow sash that says do not interrupt. People still interrupt. I am helping my Assistant Nurse Manager with a project to come up with a better solution. Thanks!

We ask that we are only interrupted if necessary, we tell the care assistants to write it down if not urgent and we will deal with it as soon as the med pass is finished. We have signs up saying we are currently doing med pass and not to disturb unless urgent as it increases risk of error

Wow. I didn't know this was even in practice. We are constantly interrupted during med passes, even to admit patients who have arrived. Granted, we may only have from 4-10 meds per patient but it is quite difficult.

Put in place a nurse who is resource and that person is the go to for any and all questions, comments, concerns. Start of shift remind the staff that Nurse Xyz is resource for the shift, and that under no circumstances is the med nurse to be disrupted during med pass. You could even have a CNA resource person, so that the CNA's will go to resource and then that resource goes to the nurse resource if it is something that the CNA resource can not answer.

In other words, there needs to be someone who answers questions other than the med pass nurse.

We used CMAs for med passes, they could not stop to toilet patients, and used the primary nurse to answer questions, pt needs etc. As a nurse it seemed we were expected to pass meds and take care of all the other issues at the same time. I like the ideal of having a sign posted on the med cart stating "Meds in progress" or "Do not Disturb" I don't think patients or families would be upset if they understood how easy it is to have an error when being interrupted during a med pass. Perhaps letting patients/families know the procedure when they are being admitted would help to cut down on questions during this time of med administration. Those who do not use a med cart could have a label to put on during their time of giving medications. Bright pink sticker etc.

Our facility holds or takes messages for the nurses during morning med pass. No calls from 7am until 10am. STNAs/CNAs know to hold information or write it down (unless it's an emergency) until nurses are done passing meds.

Managing med pass interruptions has to be a 2-way street. If a nurse expects not to be interrupted with a sundry of whatevers, then the nurse also needs to stay focused solely on the med pass and keep the social butterflying to a minimum also.

Lot of times it doesn't work out that way.

I wish we had implemented things like that during med pass.. The other night ICU called to give me report and then sent their patient about 10 minutes later. My entire med pass was late trying to make sure they were stable when they arrived. I've also had admissions during that time. Because why not?

Edited Oct 7, 2014 by RedInScrubs

My facility does nothing. Absolutely nothing. I honestly wish my facility would implement something to minimize interruptions. I've been to a facility where I saw the med carts had signs stating nurses are not to be interrupted during med pass. At my facility, I'm constantly interrupted by families, phone calls, etc.

What setting are you referring to?

The Pyxis is in a small separate room, and the number of people that can be in there at one time is very limited. So there's not people in there gabbing as they draw up medications.

More importantly, none of us are shy about saying to other staff and patients "sorry, but I'm in the middle of giving meds so it will have to wait."

Absolutely nothing. With the studies showing the increase in med errors with interruptions, all settings should be addressing this.