cmatobe

We cannot work in hospitals, period, let alone in a step-down unit or ICU. We will be in nursing homes and assisted-living homes, where the patients have been on a lot of the same medications for months or years, and are stable on them, according to the labs and the objective/subjective data. We do not give the first dose of any medication - the nurse will do that, and observe for adverse reactions. We do, however, sign off the MAR`s, which makes US accountable in a court of law, not the nurses, for our actions re: the med. passes.

No one is teaching us to do this. We are following procedure the same as the nurses do, in regard to passing meds. We have the same accountability as the nurses, the same rules and regulations. We are to never, NEVER give a med. without an order - actually, we have a whole list of "never"s, same as the nurses. And as long as we pass meds. according to the rules and regulations we have, all will be well.

As far as I can determine so far, the CMA`s will be an extra pair of hands, for their nurses. We will pass meds. to stable (and a few not-so-stable)patients, report - report - report! everything out of the ordinary to the charge nurse, and maintain our paperwork as we work. It is not going to be easy, in the beginning. I believe it will be nerve-wracking for both nurses and CMA`s, until we spend some time working together and get all the kinks ironed out. But I believe that over time, the nurses will begin to trust us and depend on us, as the majority of us prove ourselves capable of doing the job - although, sad to say, there will be a few bad eggs in the basket - there always is, no matter the job... From this board, I understand that there are a lot - a whole lot - of angy, upset, and discouraged nurses, over this new job position. Be assured that we have complete and total respect for our nurses, and there is no way we could ever begin to be all that you are. If our life circumstances were or had been different, us CMA`s might have become nurses, too.However, we are not. In the meantime, we all hope to do a good job at what we are to do, to be the best helping hands we can be for our nurses, and we also hope to become a very valuable asset to the nursing home, both to the staff and to the residents. That being said, I am going to study some. This site is invaluable to us for practical information, re: our future positions. Have a good day!

The above is the curriculum set forth by the OBN. Our instructors have added to it, and, as you can see, it is 4 weeks instead of 3. The OBN put together a text for this course, and sent it to the schools who are giving the training. Our instructors added the additional information that they felt was necessary for us to learn, then modified the text into student form. In addition to our own textbooks, which were taken from the state text, we have an additional booklet of 25 pages of different classifications of medicines, with all of the commonly-used medications for each area listed for us.(This was also taken from the OBN text) Our clinicals are to be one-on-one ( one student with one instructor) for 5 days, in one of the nursing homes in the pilot program. We must maintain a grade average of 80% in order to graduate.(80% was the figure set by the OBN)

Certified Medication Aide Course Outline Day 1: Introduction to the role of the CMA Day 2: Medical Terminology, Abbreviations, Symbols Day 3: Overview of Anatomy & Physiology Day 4: Nervous System and Sensory System Day 5: Cardiovascular/Respiratory System Day 6: Basic Pharmacology Day 7: Basic Pharmacology (cont`d) Day 8: Rights of Medication Administration Day 9: Safe Administration of Medication Day 10: Safe Administration of Medication (cont`d) Day 11: Appropriate Documentation Day 12: Medication Error Identification, Reporting, and Documentation Day 13 thru Day 19: Clinicals Day 20: Final Exam

I have started the new thread " Ohio CMC Course Outline" for more expedient reading/posting. THANX :chair:

The above is the curriculum set forth by the OBN. Our instructors have added to it, and, as you can see, it is 4 weeks instead of 3. The OBN put together a text for this course, and sent it to the schools who are giving the training. Our instructors added the additional information that they felt was necessary for us to learn, then modified the text into student form. In addition to our own textbooks, which were taken from the state text, we have an additional booklet of 25 pages of different classifications of medicines, with all of the commonly-used medications for each area listed for us.(This was also taken from the OBN text) Our clinicals are to be one-on-one ( one student with one instructor) for 5 days, in one of the nursing homes in the pilot program. We must maintain a grade average of 80% in order to graduate.(80% was the figure set by the OBN)

Day 1: Introduction to the role of the CMA Day 2: Medical Terminology, Abbreviations, Symbols Day 3: Overview of Anatomy & Physiology Day 4: Nervous System and Sensory System Day 5: Cardiovascular/Respiratory System Day 6: Basic Pharmacology Day 7: Basic Pharmacology (cont`d) Day 8: Rights of Medication Administration Day 9: Safe Administration of Medication Day 10: Safe Administration of Medication (cont`d) Day 11: Appropriate Documentation Day 12: Medication Error Identification, Reporting, and Documentation Day 13 thru Day 19: Clinicals Day 20: Final Exam (see new thread, please - thanks)

I am speaking of something simpler - if a busy nurse says "go ahead and give Mrs. Jones some Tylenol, and I`ll call and get an order" and I DO go ahead and give her some, then both myself and the nurse are on the line. On the other hand, if I go and tell the nurse " I gave Mrs. Jones 2 Tylenol for back pain, but she doesn`t have an order yet - can you get one?" then it is MY problem, and mine alone. Our procedure for passing meds. is as strict as the nurses`. We are well aware of what we can and cannot do. But if we pass our meds. within the guidelines we are trained for, all will be well.

jill48, you are right on all counts. Believe me, we are all very aware of how little we will know when we start to work. And we are all by now wishing that this course was 3 months long, instead of 3 weeks. But the Ohio Board of Nursing set the curriculum - not the individual schools - and the OBN has said that the 120-hr. course is adequate. I am going to try to post more on it all, today or tomorrow.

Thank you, ccyrrus, for such a diplomatic answer. I just started the cma training program in SW Ohio, and I will say it is intense! Perhaps I will have time this weekend to put up a course outline - so far it has been study, study, study! There are 8 students per class, 80 hours of classroom, and 40 hours of clinical, which will be done 1 on 1 with an instructor. Then we take the state tests, both written and skill test, with state nurses. I suggest that the people who are in such doubt over this program read up on it - the OBN has a website that explains everything, including the fact that the nurse is NOT responsible for the cma`s actions - only in extenuating circumstances. And there is much information in the nursing magazines and newsletters. We will be accountable to, and answer to, the OBN the same way the LPN`s and RN`s do. And that is as it should be. :deadhorse