Ragin Cajun

Pre-setting is against state regs in this state too, and also against policy in all facilities where I've worked. I can see the rational behind this, and med errors is the greatest reason. To eliminate the confusion and cut the time for med passes, we changed our times on the meds. Nothing says every med has to be given at 8:00 a.m. (qd meds). By spreading out the times, patients actually did a lot better too. Most of those little old people cannot take being hit with the bomb we give them at once. Spreading them out has contributed to better B/P control, more alert residents, decreased falls, improved moods, and general overall sense of well-being. The catch is that the facility has to agree to have medication nurses since this schedule means that you are passing meds "all the time". You can't have a patient load and do this. The other benefit, besides to the patients who do better, is decreased med errors. You are not constantly interrupted to do other things during a med pass. I hope you can sell the idea to your facility. Maybe it would help to mention all the monetary fines saved from med passes not w/in the accepted time frame, med. errors, contamination, safety, etc. A happy staff (relieved from undue stress) helps too !!! RC