RN4ittybits

Hello, Our facility is looking into what the national standard is for medication drawer keys. Each nurse at our facility carries a key, which is attached to his or her badge. The key does go home with them at night. I am curious if other facilities do the same where each direct care nurse carries a key (if you have a med drawer for each patient) or do you have keys that you sign out that stay in the facility? We are looking to upgrade to a badge system to swipe into the med drawer but are curious if we are following national standards at this time. Also, how does your facility monitor the keys (do they all have a diff number?) (are they the type of key that cannot be copied?). I am not talking about controlled/scheduled medication areas....just the regular bedside or patient room medication or medication supply drawer. Thanks!