Nursing Issue - Medication Aides

SmilingBluEyes · Jun 2, 2005

remember not all people who log on here are who they say they are. we do have those who log on in a guise to merely throw fuel on a fire. what fun would it be to log on and pretend to be a medication aide with bad spelling and worse grammar - have a "go" at the nurses and then fade into the woodwork having fed into a stereotype?
now for all of you concentrating on the behaviour of one poster who may or may not have been who or what they said they were please remember the terms of service that you agreed to when you signed up - no flaming. that includes personal attacks and personal comments.

good advice.

grannynurse FNP · Jun 3, 2005

Not to mention potential damage to patients.
If one can't spell, how do they know the difference between digoxin and dilantin; Flomax (beta-blocker and albuterol) and Volmax (bronchodilator); mg and mcg; and so on.
:stone

Sorry but I am the world's worse speller. And my spell check doesn't work on this board. And I don't always have access to a dictionary. So, you will have to just put up with some of us spelling challenged. I haven't been able to spell correctly for the past 54 years.

Denise :

leslie :-D · Jun 3, 2005

Sorry but I am the world's worse speller. And my spell check doesn't work on this board. And I don't always have access to a dictionary. So, you will have to just put up with some of us spelling challenged. I haven't been able to spell correctly for the past 54 years.
Denise :

well in this post your spelling is just fine.

and i don't think we're talking about minor mistakes but rather major misspelling that can indeed be very dangerous in nsg. i once worked w/a nurse that her spelling was so poor that she would transcribe orders that were downright dangerous and she seemed almost illiterate. very scary. she ended up being terminated and all we knew is that it had to do w/a major med error which caused harm to the pt.

leslie

txmustang · Jun 3, 2005

reading an order can be very frustrating on the MAR when a Nurse gets in a hurry for Med. Aides. if I'm not working with the nurse who took the order and the other nurse can't read it we get on the phone and ask them yes good communication and handwriting skills are impotant parts of nursing

porridge · Jun 12, 2005

Not under my license. I did not go through years of nursing education to risk it on someone with a week's worth of medical teaching. I don't know many nurses who would, if any. It's not an indictment of CNAs or the like; it's just self-preservation.

nurse1986 · Jul 1, 2005

Hi. I am new to the post. Very shortly a bill will be presented to our legislation on Medication Aides for my state. I am looking for some feedback regarding these aides. I know other programs have been implemented in many other states. How is it working? What are the current problems? Where can I go to find out more information?
In my state they will be mandatory in non-health focused care settings such as: schools, prison, assisted living, daycares, and group homes. The health focused areas are: long term care facilities, rehab centers, home health, hospice, public health depts., clinics, and acute care settings. However, some say it optional for health care facilities. The training is 24 hours. I feel this is very dangerous. It is being implemented to help alleviate some of the nursing shortage we will experience in the near future. Plus, a lot of these med aides already work in some of these facilities and there has never been any formal training. How they were hired is beyond me, but now there is a need to train these individuals. The only requirement to date is: 21 years old and a high school graduate. No prior medical experience. Scary!!!
I am looking for information on how programs of this type are working in other areas? Any problems experienced with the program? Is there an increase in med errors? Where I can go to gather more information?

Here in Ohioi they are thinking and planning to do the same aides passing medications. SCAREY!!!!!! I work assisted living and the company I work for tried this 2 years ago. thing is aides can not pass medications to pts with dementia or Alz disease. they can only pass to pts in their right mind and in my building that is NONE.

I agree we al went to school to learn about medications and the effects on pts. And if the aides start passing meds we are responsible for their mistakes NOT ME I am not going to do that . not with the aides I have

VOTE NO

tweber · Jul 1, 2005

I am a nursing student and have just finished my first year. I am working as a nurse tech right now. The difference between me and this new thing is that I am eligible to take my boards and become an LPN right now. I really think that a pharmacology class ought to be a must for these people. I don't understand how someone can pass meds with only 24 hours of training. There is so much more involved in it all than just putting a pill in someones mouth or giving them an inhaler. I do not agree with that at all. I sure hope that they do not do that here. I know where I live, you have to have one year of the 2 year associates degree nursing program completed before you can even think about passing any type of medications. Good luck...

Hi. I am new to the post. Very shortly a bill will be presented to our legislation on Medication Aides for my state. I am looking for some feedback regarding these aides. I know other programs have been implemented in many other states. How is it working? What are the current problems? Where can I go to find out more information?
In my state they will be mandatory in non-health focused care settings such as: schools, prison, assisted living, daycares, and group homes. The health focused areas are: long term care facilities, rehab centers, home health, hospice, public health depts., clinics, and acute care settings. However, some say it optional for health care facilities. The training is 24 hours. I feel this is very dangerous. It is being implemented to help alleviate some of the nursing shortage we will experience in the near future. Plus, a lot of these med aides already work in some of these facilities and there has never been any formal training. How they were hired is beyond me, but now there is a need to train these individuals. The only requirement to date is: 21 years old and a high school graduate. No prior medical experience. Scary!!!
I am looking for information on how programs of this type are working in other areas? Any problems experienced with the program? Is there an increase in med errors? Where I can go to gather more information?

TABBYLO · Jul 1, 2005

I need help! I recently moved from the city to work in a small rural hospital. Small meaning a Critical Access Hospital, we are not allowed to have more than 25 patients. Our current system of medication administration isn't very good, all of us have quite a few medication errors. We want to change our system without spending a lot of money, especially as we don't know if we'll even have a job next month. I'd like to purchase a Pyxis, but the whole money issue gets in the way. Anyone have any ideas on a safer, more reliable way to push pills?

Thanks!

M&MRN2005 · Jul 5, 2005

Check out website: http://home.earthlink.net/~rnrally05/.

Lots of good info about med aides.

wet_socks_suck · Feb 15, 2006

Hi, I live in Indiana. I am a medication aid. I had 60 hours of class room training and 40 hours of hands on trainging. Most of the hands on training was spend behind a med cart passing pills with an RN standing right over my shoulder watching every move I made. I understand your concern about the increased likelyness of a med error being made. And your logic makes sense. But there is always a nurse at my finger tips if I have a question. Sure my med pass takes longer because Im less experianced, but it still gets done right. My drug book is my bible, and I'm blessed with a sweet nurse. Who doesnt mind my questions. I work night shift in a long term care facility with about 66 residents. I usually pass all the pills in the morning, and the nurse takes care of meds via j , g, tube or iv meds. She does all the charting and all the insulins. I love my job. And my nurse finds me a great assette to our team. Oh and yes we are allowed to give narcotices. Used to we werent but the laws have changed in Indiana at least. If your state does pass the legislation for QMA's as we call them I'm sure you'll get used to it and hopefully like it. And as far as feeling concerned about the pay.. Where I work LPNS start out 3-4 dolars more than a QMA and RNS start out about 3 dollars more than a LPN. So dont feel screwed.... Your still making more money than me :chuckle

SmilingBluEyes · Feb 15, 2006

ANYone who says not to feel bad cause "we make more money than they" does not get the depth of nurses' concerns over UAPs passing meds. This has all been hashed here and in many other threads. It's not about feeling "threatened" monetarily! Please re-read the thread if you think this is our concern.

wet_socks_suck · Feb 15, 2006

the thread i had read previously the nurse was concerned about pay, she went to college for almost two years and we didnt. it was early in the morning and i was tired. im sorry if it seemed i undermined your concerns. didnt mean to insult.