Passing meds after day 4?

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Jun 15, 2011

I think where you have your first clinical will have a big impact on how much you get to do also. My first clinical site was a nursing home (lvn school vs rn schools which start in hospitals usually) so as such the last thing they wanted was for the med pass to be slowed down. Plus on nurse usually does the whole med pass for the unit which is not something that a student can do right out of the gate.

CrunchyMama, ASN, RN · Jun 15, 2011

We passed meds and hung bags the first day of clinical.

ashleyisawesome, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2011

passed meds the first week. as long as you pass your med calc test you were good to go. our teacher was right there with us and we had to know the drugs.

actually within the first month we had learned almost all of our skills except for ostomies and trach care/suctioning which we learned 2nd semester. within a month we were responsible for knowing how to: insert/dc foley caths, hang IV/IVPB, all meds (po, iv push, sc, im), ng tube insert/dc, enemas, and probably some other stuff i cant remember off the top of my head.

allnurses Guide · Jun 17, 2011

I think we started the second week of clinical.

Four days is not unreasonable.

If you are going to learn it, you just have to do it.

No one is going to let you kill a patient,lol.

You don't have to worry about that until your final rotation!

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Jun 17, 2011

No one is going to let you kill a patient,lol.

Oh I wish this were true. Some of my other classmates were assigned to a VA in Los Angeles. Students were not allowed to give meds at this facility due to a RN student from an undisclosed making a tragic mistake with insulin.

I found during my clinicals that what you were allowed to do really does depend on the facility. Students at county were given a free run to do most anything while at the private hospitals I was assigned to what we could do was limited. My final quarter we were given both carte blanc and good support from the staff nurses so I managed to make up the shortfall.

mangopeach · Jun 18, 2011

Oh I wish this were true. Some of my other classmates were assigned to a VA in Los Angeles. Students were not allowed to give meds at this facility due to a RN student from an undisclosed making a tragic mistake with insulin.
I found during my clinicals that what you were allowed to do really does depend on the facility. Students at county were given a free run to do most anything while at the private hospitals I was assigned to what we could do was limited. My final quarter we were given both carte blanc and good support from the staff nurses so I managed to make up the shortfall.

The instructor or another RN did not check?

We gave PO meds about 6 weeks into the first semester. After passing skills checkoff in the lab. Started Subq injections about half way through and hanging primary IVs towards the end. Started 2nd semester last month and we've been doing IV pushes & piggy backs. We didn't do that in first semester.

tothepointeLVN, LVN · Jun 18, 2011

The instructor or another RN did not check?
We gave PO meds about 6 weeks into the first semester. After passing skills checkoff in the lab. Started Subq injections about half way through and hanging primary IVs towards the end. Started 2nd semester last month and we've been doing IV pushes & piggy backs. We didn't do that in first semester.

Not sure of the details regarding the aforementioned student because it was form another school I only know the aftermath which was no medications administered in that hospital by a student. Sad for everyone involved.

Michaela, RN · Sep 21, 2012

We just learned to pass PO and enteric meds today. We are in week 7. We still cannot do it in a clinical setting until after our med calc test on 10/1.

We will do SubQ and IM meds next week, and IVPB the following week.