Medication Aides

[R.L.Silva]

I am asking this question of you because I have looked for days for my answer and am still empty handed. I need to know where I might find information on medication aides and their state practice limitations for Massachusetts. I know this is an odd forum to ask this question but I am at my wits end. I am doing this for a friend who Manages a Community Health Center. Thank you!

[Rustyhammer]

You want someone to pass your meds....Hire a nurse!

-Russell

[alwaysthere]

Contact yours state Dept of Health & Health proffesions and they should be able to give u some information..or search for state health page on the net.

[adrienurse, LPN]

I'm not familiar with medication aides, I don't think they're legal where I'm from. I don't see how they can be very safe. Seems like just another quick fix from the higher-ups.

[pappyRN]

R.L. Silva,

You might try contacting the Massachusetts Division or Department of Aging. There is usually an Ombudsman program that deals with nursing and residential treatment facilities. Since nursing homes frequently use CMT's to pass their meds either of the above suggestions may be able to provide an answer. You could also try your State Board of Nurse Examiners.

Warm personal regards,

PappyRN

[Flo1216]

I know they use them in assisted living communities in NJ. They call them medics. I wonder though...do they have to know about the meds they are giving or do they just give them out? I also know medical assistants in doctors offices who give meds and injections. I wonder if nurses are educating themselves right out of their job, what with all the people willing to perform nurses tasks for $10 an hour. (I actually had a doctor tell me that, by the way.) Maybe in ten years, nurse's aids will be doing continuous bladder irrigations just so the nurses can do all the mounds of paperwork! (just kidding)

[night owl]

I've never heard of medication aides. Are you licensed to do this? And do you give out narcotics?

[jcardwell]

I know in Oregon, you can get a Med Aide certification after you have worked as a full time CNA for 6 months. Then you go back to school and take 40 hours of class time and 40 hours of clinicals. Not sure if you have to pass a board exam like with the CNA certificate.

You might try your CNA schools to see if they know any information.

Jill

[azgirl]

In Arizona there is a lot of having the caregivers give meds. I hate it and think no one but a nurse should touch the meds but that doesn't seem to bother management. I have seen errors that would curl your hair but hey....it saves them money. Why pay a real nurse when you can get an $8 an hour caregiver. grrrr.

[ResearchRN]

Try calling the state board:

The Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing

Division of Professional Licensure

239 Causeway Street

Boston, Massachusetts 02114

Phone: [phone]

Fax: [phone]

TTY: [phone]

or e-mail:

[email protected]

[night owl]

i was always under the impression that you had to be licensed to give medications. for a facility to use med aides would be shadey to say the least. but if they're legal i can see where they'd be utilized...to save money of course.

40 hours of class time is 5 days of a work week...and to think i had to sweat it out for a semester of pharmacology. yipes! what is nursing coming to? this sounds disasterous imho. some of the cna's at my facility can do straight caths and insert foleys, but they won't because they feel it's beyond their scope of practice even though they are allowed. maybe little by little they'll phase out the nurse doing any skilled tasks so the "medics" can do them and let the nurses do the unsurmountable paper work dictated by jcaho. it seems that almost everyday there's a new form to fill out for something that's added to the many we already have to do! does it ever end??? apparently not...which brings me to another thread topic...

[Nurse Ratched, RN]

I think you're talking about a QMA. Do they still use them?

It's important to have someone passing meds who not only can read the package and dispense the proper amount, but understands the effects on the body, side effects and when NOT to give them. I don't know what QMA training involves, but if there aren't chemistry, pharmacology and physiology courses (at a minimum) then how does the person know what they're giving and what it's supposed to do?