Potential new law to be passed...to help nursing shortage

Nurses General Nursing

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hi everyone,

i am an RN student and for an assignment we must post 2 questions and have someone respond. my husband is an ADON in a long term care facility and he read an article that stated our state is going to pass a law to have med pass aides pass meds in LTC facilities. i just wanted to know if anybody has heard anything about this in their state and what your opinion is? they are doing this to cut back on the work load of nurses. do you think this is a good way to solve the nursing shortage? thanks, maggymae

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hi everyone,

i am an RN student and for an assignment we must post 2 questions and have someone respond. my husband is an ADON in a long term care facility and he read an article that stated our state is going to pass a law to have med pass aides pass meds in LTC facilities. i just wanted to know if anybody has heard anything about this in their state and what your opinion is? they are doing this to cut back on the work load of nurses. do you think this is a good way to solve the nursing shortage? thanks, maggymae

I do know that in Wa state a CNA can be "certified" as a med aid and pass meds in LTC facilities. I think it's rather stupid personally. I was a med aid w/o certification (very briefly) and I have no idea what I'm handing out. All I know is to follow what the book says. Twice I made med errors by not handing out a narc. I don't know why, I just know I did it because I signed the narc out and it was still there. Once I was going on 4 days with only about 5 hours sleep total. That level of exhaustion plus not having any education is a bad formula

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When I first started nursing back in the 80's the hospital I worked at had med techs. It was terrible, the nurses ended up being just a busy, because they added on even more duties, then we were still responsible for the meds. In other words, the med tech would give meds , they had no critical thinking abilites as the RN, so there were many times, no discretion was used when giving the meds. ie: lasix with low K. or maalox with stomach pain that was actually an MI. With no thought to invesigate the pain furter, just gave it. The problem was the RN was still as responsible for the meds given as if the RN gave it. Just as MA's work under the Dr's licinse, the med tech works under the RN's. Really scarey, maybe I'm just a micro manager, but if it involves invasive procedures, meds or anything to do with the pt care that can make a differencer in outcomes, I want to do it.

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My state allows it and my experience is that it's frightening.

While setting-up (and administering) G-tube meds for a resident on a wing other than my own, I asked the med aide that was in charge of running this cart where the residents metaclopramide was kept on this particular unit. She ran to get a new bottle. Holy Cow! She handed me the magnesium! I thought I'd die when I pointed out to her that this was not what I asked for. "Huh? This isn't the right stuff?" This gal had NO IDEA that Magnesium and Metaclopramide were not the same thing.

Another time I was working a med cart when I asked the med aide where this resident's atarax was. She walked over and grabbed the atenolol card and handed it to me. WHAT? How many times had that happened before!?

IMHO there wouldn't be a nursing shortage if facilities would hire enough nurses. People arn't factory widgets...get 'em done and they stay done. People are in fact dynamic with ever changing needs....just like we were created.

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Specializes in Cardiac, Critical Care, LTC.

I am a med aide in nursing school. I passed meds in the OKC, OK area from 2000-2004 then I moved to Texas. It does help the nurses with their load.

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My state allows it and my experience is that it's frightening.

While setting-up (and administering) G-tube meds for a resident on a wing other than my own, I asked the med aide that was in charge of running this cart where the residents metaclopramide was kept on this particular unit. She ran to get a new bottle. Holy Cow! She handed me the magnesium! I thought I'd die when I pointed out to her that this was not what I asked for. "Huh? This isn't the right stuff?" This gal had NO IDEA that Magnesium and Metaclopramide were not the same thing.

Another time I was working a med cart when I asked the med aide where this resident's atarax was. She walked over and grabbed the atenolol card and handed it to me. WHAT? How many times had that happened before!?

IMHO there wouldn't be a nursing shortage if facilities would hire enough nurses. People arn't factory widgets...get 'em done and they stay done. People are in fact dynamic with ever changing needs....just like we were created.

I worked with a tech who was a med aide one time. She was an aide for one of my HH patients. I was trying to explain the medications the patient was on and what they did and signs to monitor in the patient and report to the office because it might be med related. Each time I would try to explain something the aide would interrupt me with a quick "I know! I know!" Each and every time. She would say , " I know! I was a med tech! I took a course in meds!"

Okay...

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Specializes in Cardiac.

No. Turfing nursing duties is not a good way to help with the nursing shortage.

A way to help would be to increase staffing, and make the workload easier---and not by taking nursing duties away and giving them to non-nurses, but by decreasing ratios and paperwork.

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Specializes in Day Surgery, Agency, Cath Lab, LTC/Psych.

A good way to solve the nursing shortage would be to pay nursing instructors a whole lot more money. One of the reasons the schools can't admit more students is because their are not enough instructors. Problem now is that a lot of nursing instructors make less than a new grad would in a hospital setting. That is not right.:madface:

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hi everyone,

i am an RN student and for an assignment we must post 2 questions and have someone respond. my husband is an ADON in a long term care facility and he read an article that stated our state is going to pass a law to have med pass aides pass meds in LTC facilities. i just wanted to know if anybody has heard anything about this in their state and what your opinion is? they are doing this to cut back on the work load of nurses. do you think this is a good way to solve the nursing shortage? thanks, maggymae

This does absolutely nothing to solve the nursing shortage.

What it DOES do is increase the number of med errors that will occur. It also increases, at I would predict a horrific rate, the number of times a nurse will be trying to combat the detrimental effects of the "right" med given at the wrong time. Just because it's on the MAR doesn't mean it's appropriate to give in every instance. I can guarantee you I spent more than two hours in school learning this; how much training do you suppose the "med techs" will have?

Nurses don't just "pass meds", we assess the patients at the time they are being given, to determine whether the patient SHOULD have those meds then. As a small example, blood pressure meds, while "on the MAR", are frequently held (due to low numers) or given and a call placed to MD to change order (due to high or chronically high numbers). Will the med tech do this? No.

And since ultimately it's the RN who is supposed to be overseeing this circus, it's the RN who is ultimately to blame when the med tech injures or kills someone.

No, thanks....I'd rather keep my license.

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Specializes in Med-Surg and L & D.

it would be interesting to know where (what state) you are in. i work in michigan and have worked in two critical access facilities where med nurses are used routinely. both are small hospitals with maximum of 24 bed capacity, and that capacity includes the emergency department beds. that being said, the first facility that i worked at utilized a lpn to administer the meds and she is not allowed to do iv pushes. the facility that i am currently at utilizes the l & d nurse (myself or two others and only one per shift) all of which are rn's. i still am not entirely comfortable in this role even knowing what i know in regards to contraindications, adverse effects and when not to give meds. i feel that the person giving the med should know the patient. when i go into a room to pass a med, i am not able to assess whether this patient "does not look right" or has a change in mentation, or whether his/her respiration rate has changed significantly. all of those things that an rn whom has this patient for the whole nite or day will know. with an rn passing the med, it may reduce some med errors, it also increases her liability if she administers a med that the patient at that time may be contraindicated due to other factors that she cannot assess, because to her, that patient is a room number and a diagnosis. as a med nurse i sit in report and listen and try to glean as much information as possible and i will report to charge nurse any contraindications that i can recognize as the arise, but i do not believe that it is in the best interest of the patient to be utilizing this practice. if a laboring patient comes in to deliver, i am whisked off the floor with just a short report off to the charge nurse to indicate which meds have been passed and which need to be passed. if you have a med nurse that is uap with certification i can see more chances of a med being given that should not be due to an underlying factor that i am sure that she would not be able to assess. i believe that nurses (rn's) should administer their own meds because the have a more encompassing view of the patient and his or her current needs. whether one utilizes and rn, an lpn, or a certified med tech, i believe that this practice is dangerous.

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Specializes in ICU, PICC Nurse, Nursing Supervisor.

this is nothing new. they have had med aides in facilities in texas for 20 years that i know of.

hi everyone,

i am an rn student and for an assignment we must post 2 questions and have someone respond. my husband is an adon in a long term care facility and he read an article that stated our state is going to pass a law to have med pass aides pass meds in ltc facilities. i just wanted to know if anybody has heard anything about this in their state and what your opinion is? they are doing this to cut back on the work load of nurses. do you think this is a good way to solve the nursing shortage? thanks, maggymae

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Specializes in Nephrology, Cardiology, ER, ICU.

IL defeated this legislation in the last couple of years and I'm very glad.

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