medication aides

In my area med aides do pass meds in ltc facilities

No... at least not in my facility.

right now there is a major problem with unlicensed medication aides administering meds that concerns me a lot, the state board states that anyone administering meds must be state certified and take a class in order to be eligible to be certified. There is a loophole in regs somewhere that these unlicensed med aids are actually only "assisting" with med administration and this is OK with the state. I say you can call them whatever you want to, but they are popping meds out of bubble packs, signing the MAR, bringing the meds in a med cup to the residents and I believe that is administering meds. Nurses use the nursing process and critical thinking skills when we give meds to the residents, and these med aides are not able to use these nursing skills. I am wondering how widespread this problem is, and would like to hear from other nurses out there who have experienced this.