Nurse tech working as RN

Nurses General Nursing

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So at my facility, a short-term rehabilitation center with a few long-term care patients, nurse techs can cover RN shifts, only if the shift is a NOC shift. Is this legal? Just want to make sure this is okay before I agree to anything. Nurse techs have been doing this for a long time before I ever got hired, which was recently. Still, I want to make sure.

Um....no it is not legal for techs to administer medicine, assessments or taking orders from doctors.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Um....no it is not legal for techs to administer medicine, assessments or taking orders from doctors.

There are states where non-licensed personnel are permitted to pass meds if they have completed training.

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I'm shocked actually and I'm not a nurse lol. I'm a PCT who has known a few Nurse Tech's that didn't pass the first or maybe second try at NCLEX, but those few Nurse Techs did eventually pass the exam. I would think it's a totally illegal practice to hire a Nurse Tech to cover a RN position. It seems your facility hasn't taken into account any future court case that may arise from a patient, your name is attached to documentation and it could eventually cost you your license.

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Specializes in Critical Care.

What I haven't seen anyone do is direct you to your board of nursing: THEY ultimately regulate what you can and can't do. Get a job description from your employer, detailing exactly what your responsibilities are then contact the BON with your question.

As a tech, you will never complete RN duties, as you call them. You can however complete tasks delegated to you by the RN

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Specializes in Critical Care.

Since you don't know what the responsibilities are, your post is incorrect. When you say cover an RN, we have not been told what the job entails. It's also premature to say it could cost future licensure

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Specializes in ED, ICU, PSYCH, PP, CEN.

I would be very leery of any job that says' "only on nights". If it's legal why don't they do it on days too?

answer: Too many prying eyes to get away with it.

Run away fast.

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Any update from the OP?

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Specializes in LTC Family Practice.

NOOOOOOOOOOO way wrong ~ you need to find another job. If you are a CNA and a med aide each state clearly defines what you can and can not do.

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There are states where non-licensed personnel are permitted to pass meds if they have completed training.

:wideyed: I have never heard of this...

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Specializes in Pediatrics Telemetry CCU ICU.

Thank You!!! I have tried to tell that to many of my cohorts and they insist that the instructor's license is what they are working under. (They looked at me like I was crazy for wanting to become a clinical instructor).

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Specializes in Pediatrics Telemetry CCU ICU.
:wideyed: I have never heard of this...

They had been doing this for years in Pennsylvania but only in Assisted Living and Personal Care Homes.

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They had been doing this for years in Pennsylvania but only in Assisted Living and Personal Care Homes.

They don't have to be a QMA?

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