Medication Aides

Nurses General Nursing

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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!

Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Since you are not I will say this. When you worked as hard as many of us on this thread to obtain licensure having someone pass your meds is not going to cut it. In case you haven't notice there is a Nursing practice act which states that the RN is the ultimate person responsible for his/her patient so if your medication aide, cna or pca makes a grave error it will fall on the RN. No one is miserable but very tired of certain interest groups attempting to downplay what Registered nurses do. I prefer to give my own meds so I know! There is much more to just passing a med. You have to know why you are giving for that patient know what to do in a emergency situation! Passing meds is a part of a nursing duty not the whole and to carve that portion is a big mistake. When the medication is given depending what kind you may have to assess the outcome of that medication I don't recall unlicensed personnel having that in their scope of practice. I am not putting down anyone it is a matter of your scope! Like nurses have no business writing doctors orders or performing procedures w/o an order! Why should this be any different. When the day comes when you have your license you may feel different. We have our patients lives in our hands and no one is going to jepordize my care of my patients for a few bucks less an hour!

Amen. I agree 100%. RN's cannot delegate assessment, so why delegate administering meds? I am glad I do not work where CMA's are used. I would not want them passing meds on MY license.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I see there is still debating going on whether a CNA or CMA is a nurse or not. Why are y'all beating a dead horse that topic was about Medication aides passing medicine nothing to do if that person is a nurse or not we all know they are not, they know they are not. So why the constant reminder they are still going to be passing medications, with the same scurbs nurses wear and the patient is still going to be mistaking them for nurses........so why bother???

Talk about the legality of the medicine aide passing meds because that is what you all are saying is a nursing duty. But CMA are being employed to do this duty. So something has to be legal about it.

If you are worried about your license while at work make sure the CMA is doing the job right or tell them not to pass meds to your patients. I'm sure they won't mind a lesser load.

Or better yet find out if your state is violating a law with this practice and do something about it.

Rn2be204 :balloons: :balloons:

Just because a thing is legal does not automatically make it safe. Alcohol use is legal, but misused, it is far from safe.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Then you need to take this up with the State Department of your state because they're the ones who approved the program.
perhaps I do. I know a couple prior nurses and techs who work with State Legislature. Fortunately, none of the hospitals where I have worked use them. It's mostly a LTC thing, I think. Which, to me, anyhow, still is not right, given how many meds some of those folks use. Yes, I still think it ought be illegal, myself. If that offends, you , I am sorry. That is not my intent. My intent is to protect my patients and my own license. Period.
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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
I didn't realize until I started reading some of these statements just how secure and down to earth our nurses are where I work, at least 99% of them. They appreciate all the help they can get and don't feel threatened by anybody. They are very patient and willing to guide and train students.

I am not worried about a CMA taking my job; I am not insecure. I don't dislike CMA's or think they are "stupid".

I am concerned, however, when I consider how much schooling we as nurses had to go through, just to understand pathophysiology and pharmacology----in order to do what we do each day. It's not about just putting pills in a cup and handing them out. Medication requires assessment skills/training and pharmacology knowledge that CMA's are NOT trained as extensively in. WHO is responsible for those assessments? The RN. So who is held responsible if something goes wrong? The CMA alone? Don't think so.

So, yea, they come up with CMA's who have little of such training, and they want them to give meds under MY license. THAT I have a problem with. My job is not in jeopardy as far as I know by the existance of CMA's. Safety is. It does not make nurses "better" but we are ULTIMATELY responsible. I don't want to be responsible for others giving my patients meds. It's just that simple.

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i for one agree that there good and bad people in the healthcare setting. That insteading of complaining that we should work together. Nurses are no better that non nurses. having a medication aide is helpful in some instance. You have to trust people you work with. Nurses keep arguing that medication aides dont have all the training and dont know what their doing. that all medication aides are endangering nurses and patients. Where i work i have pass medication, done breathing treatments, and minor skin dressing. i have worked with one of the best nurses in the healthcare field. she is the one who encouraged me to go to medication aide classes. i learned from her. i take my job seriously and keep on learning. Nurses dont have all the answers: yes they went to alot of schooling, but that doesnt mean that the know more because I have also worked with nurses that give nurses a bad name. I wonder how they got their liciense. But there good and bad in the healthcare setting. We need to work together to fix the problem in the system. We have to stand with each other. Because the healthcare field has a bad name and people dont have faith in it. There hear all the negative and never the positive in healthcare. and we in the healthcare field are making it worse because we are divided and complaining to much.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

all that is fine and good, ----you are right, there ARE bad nurses out there. And probably DARN good CMA's. (I know no CMAs myself). But in the end who will be held liable when the poop hits the fan?

the NURSE. that is the fact.

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all that is fine and good, ----you are right, there ARE bad nurses out there. And probably DARN good CMA's. (I know no CMAs myself). But in the end who will be held liable when the poop hits the fan?

the NURSE. that is the fact.

sorry but were i lived the CNA and CMA were reliable themselves. that their mistakes were the mistake had held liable.

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

You see, the RN cannot delegate assessments to UAPs. It's against NPA. So who is held ultimately accountable? The RN. We simply cannot escape that fact. Assessment is a key responsibility you cannot divorce from medication administration; it is a legal responsibility and skill that cannot be sloughed off onto UAPs, no matter how "good" they are, no matter how you cut and dice it.

Therefore, I really do feel UAPs should NEVER administer meds.

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hmm....i myself am a Medication aide in the state of Texas...i went to school for 6 months to get my med aide license...its not that big of a deal as most of you are acting...

we can only work in LTC settings...not hospitals and can only give PO meds and nothing that goes into the lungs....

we work under the care of a nurse just like CNA's do..we can not give PRNs without letting the nurses know and have there acceptance to give it. We can give narc's but have to sign out for them just like the nurse...and count every change of shift...we are humans too - we dont want to steal the narcs and anybody can steal narcs - even NURSES can be drug abusers...

i dont understand why so many of you are against medication aides....we take our licenses very seriously....we dont mess around..we know how to read the MARS and chart correctly...

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Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.

I just said why I am against their use. If you can't understand the fact that I cannot LEGALLY delegate my responsibilities, yet would be asked to do JUST THAT by using a Medication Aide, well what can I say. I am NOT better than you, that is not what I am saying. I am saying, I have the responsibility to assess each person under my care....and medication administration cannot be done w/o proper assessments. I cannot see it saving me time or trouble to have a CMA as I would have to assess the patient prior to the CMA giving the med, anyhow. I just don't see an advantage where I work, not to mention, I can't say I see it as safe. I can't be more plain than that, I am sorry.

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hmm....i myself am a medication aide in the state of texas...i went to school for 6 months to get my med aide license...its not that big of a deal as most of you are acting...

we take our licenses very seriously....we dont mess around..we know how to read the mars and chart correctly...

and you work only ltc settings. that's a good thing? where people are on multiple medications and can have interactions between medications? where people are old and fragile and may have unique reactions to medications because of their age?

you make it sound like the only important things about giving medication is reading the mars and charting. wrong!!! the most important thing about giving a medication is "is it doing what it is expected to do for this patient? is this patient benefiting from this medicaton." and, even more subtely (sp?), "do the benefits of this medication outweigh the risks, as seen in potential problems and actual side effects?" and even, "should the physician be lobbied for a different medication or dosage?"

your post scares me because it appears that you have no understanding for what it means to assess a patient (not your fault)-- you are not taught how to do it, for the most part--but that you also seem to not know what an assessment means and how it is relevant to the patient is, well, scary. i have no doubt that you have an interest and dedication to what you are doing--this is a good thing. that you are on this board learning--is a good thing. medication aides as human beings are not the problem--the level of education they get is.

nursefirst

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Specializes in Critical Care/ICU.

we take our licenses very seriously...

Are you really licensed? Is there a licensing body, like a state board, that oversees the licensing of medication aides? Do you carry professional insurance?

Just wondering because I don't think you are licensed. I wonder who protects who in the case of a mistake? Does a patient or a patients family come after the med aide or the RN and facility in case of a mistake?

There are just way too many unanswered questions regarding this role of med aide. It's too scary and dangerous for me to accept as a standard of practice.

Seriously, 6 months education is not nearly enough to give my loved one their meds in LTC.

Medication aides are simply a way for facilities to cut costs. Period. With all do repect to the CMA's out there, they do not contribute anything to the safety of the patient or lightening an RN's load, they only benefit the bottom monetary line of their employer.

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