Nursing Issue - Medication Aides

Nurses Safety

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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?

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

Yesterday, the NC Board of Nursing reversed themselves on the issue of medication aides and voted to oppose it.

Not so coincidentally, the Health Care committee of the House voted to table the discussion of H 783. It was taken off the calendar for action in the legislature.

Specializes in 5 yrs OR, ASU Pre-Op 2 yr. ER.

Woooohooo!

Specializes in Long Term Care, Telemetry, Ventilators.

I am currently a trainer for "Med Techs" who are used in FL Assisted Living Facilities. There should be some clarification regarding the "med tech" in Florida and those in other states like Kentucky.

In Florida, after 4 hours of training a person is able to ASSIST the resident to take his medication. This means the resident must first be able to know what the medications are and the reasons for taking them. This allows the resident to be in a more independent living situation. Assisting with medication administration includes steadying someone's hand, putting the medication in a cup for the person, pouring water, juice or other liquids. It does not include crush pills or scoring them, nor does it include injections or making judgements on prn meds. If the person is confused, then they must not be assisted with medication administration, but must be administered the medication by a licensed nurse. Furthermore, the state of FL determines administration of medication as taking a medication and directly putting it into the mouth of the resident.

In Kentucky for instance, a medication aide takes an extended course and is able to ADMINISTER medication. These med techs do give injections, make independent decisions and work in both nursing homes and assisted living facilities.

It should be noted that Florida has opted not to follow the slack rules of other states like Kentucky. We do not have feeding assistance or medication aides.

After reading most of these posts I REALLY feel the need to vent. I understand that you nurses have worked long and hard to get to where you are at and correct me if im wrong but it seems to me you think some "dimwit" is coming in to take over your job or something. NOT THE CASE!!!! I am a CNA/CMT i have been in geriatrics for six years now. I live in the state of Missouri i have worked as a charge nurse with a lpn over me in the building. My job consist of passing meds, giving insulin, charting, vital signs, and treatments. Also I am phlebotomy certified so i am able to draw blood. I took approx 84 hr's of training however, I was certified in the state of Nebraska as well and took training there as well. I am also able to give meds thru a feeding tube and take dr's orders, transcribe however, my facility doesnt wish to allow that which is fine with me. I have to say I do believe that some of our med tech's that have been working for years and years are more realible to go to then the nurse. Dont get me wrong im not saying every nurse, I'm just saying some of those nurses we work with. We have alot of responsibility on our hands and we take our job very seriously some of us havent gone to school b/c we cant afford to. Look at the difference a 300.00 dollar class verus 7000.00 and up to get your lpn. I am glad i got the oppurtunity to become a cmt b/c that is going to give me a heads up to what nursing intells. Oh, I forgot to mention the other req. to getting your cmt in the state of Mo. You MUST be a CNA for at least a year, have your hs dipoma or GED. Also you have to take a extra class to be able to take blood sugars and give insulin. I'm sorry to step on anyones toes but please take a minute and understand we our trained, we DO ask questions from our superviser and in the time i've been doing meds i made one med error which almost everyone as be it a cmt/lpn/rn. I was in charge of two different units one icf kind of setting and 2 rcf and i didnt know there was a scheduled 12am carva/leva. when i found out @ 3am i told my charge nurse did the responsible thing and wrote myself up for a med error.

Specializes in Critical Care/ICU.
After reading most of these posts I REALLY feel the need to vent. I understand that you nurses have worked long and hard to get to where you are at and correct me if im wrong but it seems to me you think some "dimwit" is coming in to take over your job or something. NOT THE CASE!!!! I am a CNA/CMT i have been in geriatrics for six years now. I live in the state of Missouri i have worked as a charge nurse with a lpn over me in the building. My job consist of passing meds, giving insulin, charting, vital signs, and treatments. Also I am phlebotomy certified so i am able to draw blood. I took approx 84 hr's of training however, I was certified in the state of Nebraska as well and took training there as well. I am also able to give meds thru a feeding tube and take dr's orders, transcribe however, my facility doesnt wish to allow that which is fine with me. I have to say I do believe that some of our med tech's that have been working for years and years are more realible to go to then the nurse. Dont get me wrong im not saying every nurse, I'm just saying some of those nurses we work with. We have alot of responsibility on our hands and we take our job very seriously some of us havent gone to school b/c we cant afford to. Look at the difference a 300.00 dollar class verus 7000.00 and up to get your lpn. I am glad i got the oppurtunity to become a cmt b/c that is going to give me a heads up to what nursing intells. Oh, I forgot to mention the other req. to getting your cmt in the state of Mo. You MUST be a CNA for at least a year, have your hs dipoma or GED. Also you have to take a extra class to be able to take blood sugars and give insulin. I'm sorry to step on anyones toes but please take a minute and understand we our trained, we DO ask questions from our superviser and in the time i've been doing meds i made one med error which almost everyone as be it a cmt/lpn/rn. I was in charge of two different units one icf kind of setting and 2 rcf and i didnt know there was a scheduled 12am carva/leva. when i found out @ 3am i told my charge nurse did the responsible thing and wrote myself up for a med error.

The above post has to be a joke, right?

If it isn't please tell me exactly where this place is so I can report it to the State Nursing Board of Missouri.

Pretty sure it's unlawful to refer to yourself as a Nurse when you don't actually have the license to work as a nurse.

And BELIEVE me, nurses are NOT worried about Medication Techs taking over their jobs.

This post makes me very angry.

The above post has to be a joke, right?

If it isn't please tell me exactly where this place is so I can report it to the State Nursing Board of Missouri.

Pretty sure it's unlawful to refer to yourself as a Nurse when you don't actually have the license to work as a nurse.

And BELIEVE me, nurses are NOT worried about Medication Techs taking over their jobs.

This post makes me very angry.

hmmm... i didn't see where she said she was a nurse... can you point it out for me?

:uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3:

hmmm... i didn't see where she said she was a nurse... can you point it out for me?

:uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3:

i NEVER implied that i was a nurse. I do however have hopes of being a nurse someday. But I will say some of the nurses attitudes twords cmt's/cma's are really making me sick. It's one thing to be concerned about the patients care and the risks of having a "non-nurse" do things. But its another to discriminate which i feel some our doing. We are not giving shots other then insulin. WE ARE NOT doing physicals. WE ARE NOT calling dr's. ALSO WE ARE NOT working without supervision. however, we do have brains. Lukily are nurses respect us and think of us as one of them and value are opinion and without us they have said they wouldnt be able to do the job. Wow I am just dumb founded by all of this. Go ahead and look up the Missouri state board if you would like i could do it for you God Bless Tiffany

Specializes in Obstetrics, M/S, Psych.
hmmm... i didn't see where she said she was a nurse... can you point it out for me?

:uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3: :uhoh3:

tiffanycmt did say she worked as a "charge nurse", but I didn't take that as her literally meaning she was a nurse, as she did say there was an LPN working over her. (I'm thinking you saw it the same way.) She seems to know her place quite well to me, by working within her scope and going to the nurses as necessary.

tiffanycmt, you sound like a gem and a true asset to the team to me!

tiffanycmt did say she worked as a "charge nurse", but I didn't take that as her literally meaning she was a nurse, as she did say there was an LPN working over her. (I'm thinking you saw it the same way.) She seems to know her place quite well to me, by working within her scope and going to the nurses as necessary.

tiffanycmt, you sound like a gem and a true asset to the team to me!

How can she say she is a "charge nurse" when she is not a nurse? If there is a nurse over her then that nurse is the "charge nurse"; not her!

After reading most of these posts I REALLY feel the need to vent. I understand that you nurses have worked long and hard to get to where you are at and correct me if im wrong but it seems to me you think some "dimwit" is coming in to take over your job or something. NOT THE CASE!!!! I am a CNA/CMT i have been in geriatrics for six years now. I live in the state of Missouri i have worked as a charge nurse with a lpn over me in the building. My job consist of passing meds, giving insulin, charting, vital signs, and treatments. Also I am phlebotomy certified so i am able to draw blood. I took approx 84 hr's of training however, I was certified in the state of Nebraska as well and took training there as well. I am also able to give meds thru a feeding tube and take dr's orders, transcribe however, my facility doesnt wish to allow that which is fine with me. I have to say I do believe that some of our med tech's that have been working for years and years are more realible to go to then the nurse. Dont get me wrong im not saying every nurse, I'm just saying some of those nurses we work with. We have alot of responsibility on our hands and we take our job very seriously some of us havent gone to school b/c we cant afford to. Look at the difference a 300.00 dollar class verus 7000.00 and up to get your lpn. I am glad i got the oppurtunity to become a cmt b/c that is going to give me a heads up to what nursing intells. Oh, I forgot to mention the other req. to getting your cmt in the state of Mo. You MUST be a CNA for at least a year, have your hs dipoma or GED. Also you have to take a extra class to be able to take blood sugars and give insulin. I'm sorry to step on anyones toes but please take a minute and understand we our trained, we DO ask questions from our superviser and in the time i've been doing meds i made one med error which almost everyone as be it a cmt/lpn/rn. I was in charge of two different units one icf kind of setting and 2 rcf and i didnt know there was a scheduled 12am carva/leva. when i found out @ 3am i told my charge nurse did the responsible thing and wrote myself up for a med error.

TiffanyCMT,

It sounds like you do exactly what I do on a daily basis. 30-32 patients in a nursing home, all I do is one long, 8-hr med-pass. I'm a new RN grad. and have time to do nothing else. Thank you for going to school and wanting to do that. We need more professionals like you.

How can she say she is a "charge nurse" when she is not a nurse? If there is a nurse over her then that nurse is the "charge nurse"; not her!

Exactly.

Specializes in Cardiac, Derm, OB.

Texas has Certified Medication Aides & has for several years. The only requirements are 18 & HS Diploma. Must be employed as a CNA for at least 90 days. The class is 100 class hrs, 30 lab hrs & 10 clinical hrs. Some are successful & others are not alot of the error is in the person who is careless & not detail oriented. They are employed in SNF, LTCF, and hospitals here & there is no sign they are going away. It is a double edged sword.

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