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Discussion

Pyxis Problems

  • Experts

882584536_pyxisproblems.png.cfafe4d1862bc4ec88de9a1a685c2f8b.pngThere's a current thread polling about waiting in a line at the pyxis, the time it takes to pull meds, etc.

I don't get interrupted too often by staff when I'm using the pyxis. The occasional RT to pull meds for breathing treatments or the pharmacy tech to fill some med(s), but usually it's the patients who'll interrupt. They start lining up outside the med room right before med time like Wal-Mart campers on Black Friday.

I refused to open the med room door even though they knock and scratch on it like crazed zombies.

I also refuse to answer the phone when I'm setting up meds. I figure if it's really important, they can call 911.

The Pyxis has its own personality. It's very anal and moves at its own pace. Cubies take forever to open, especially the ones containing acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. I may be wrong but I don't hold a lot of faith in them improving a patient's memory or reminding the cubie to open. I swear! The cubie that contains Aricept takes forever to open!

Okay. That's a start. What kind of Pyxis Problems have you experienced?

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    • Featured Replies

    Lol I had to laugh at your post. Thank the Good Lord we don't have pts banging and scratching, on the door! One place I worked had a sign, on the door, saying to NOT knock, but the CNAs did it all the time. I didn't answer it; a medication error is not worth it.

    I agree...those cubies can be oh so slow! I'll have to pay attention to the Aricept one next time I need to withdraw some. Lol

    Yes, the Pyxis is anal. The one I like is whenever I withdraw heparin, a big warning comes up saying this medication may contain heparin. : /

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    We didn't have any patients at the med room/pyxis. Why would they do that we they could lay in bed and use the call light! Besides the line for "normal" waiting for the other nurses to get their 20meds/pt we also had the pharmacy techs coming to restock at guess-what-time, that's right 0900, just like clock work! No matter how many times we tried to ask management to have them come a different time it never happened.

    Anything good in the newspaper this morning DaveyDo (or is that your to do list for the day)?

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    • Experts

    My last workplace (ambulatory care) had a different brand machine. It wasn't anal; it was downright passive aggressive. It would pretend it never saw your fingerprint before. The process to actually get one of its precious meds out of it was quite elaborate. If the multiple steps weren't completed just so, you had to start over.

    Sometimes it would decide it needed to reboot itself, but only if the clinic was especially busy that day. We learned never to keep epi or other emergency meds in it.

    That machine would not have lasted a week on a med-surg floor. Someone would have taken a baseball bat to it. Probably me.

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    1 hour ago, Daisy4RN said:

    Besides the line for "normal" waiting for the other nurses to get their 20meds/pt we also had the pharmacy techs coming to restock at guess-what-time, that's right 0900, just like clock work! No matter how many times we tried to ask management to have them come a different time it never happened.

    Our pharmacy techs stock at the same time. They also stock when you need to get a STAT medication.

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    Two words: “Failed drawer” ...

    ... every time someone needs that IM of Ativan.

    Yelling and banging sounds out in the milieu. Yelling and banging sounds in the med room.

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    21 minutes ago, beekee said:

    Our pharmacy techs stock at the same time. They also stock when you need to get a STAT medication.

    Nurse to tech: Excuse me can I get into the Pyxis for a urgent needed med.

    Tech to nurse: (only non verbal communication) Big sigh, looks at nurse with disgust, then slowly finishes what they are doing

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    • Author
    • Experts

    Thank you all for your replies and I really mean that, because if I didn't say, "I really mean that", I really wouldn't mean it.

    You've given me a couple ideas for comics, but alas, it's Friday evening and I need to start my three 12's. I might pop in if I'm not too busy at work, but cartoons are probably going to have to wait.

    In the meantime, let's play a little Pyxis Game: In the above cartoon, there's something awry about each of the eight characters.

    Can you name each of the eight things?

    "The Game is afoot!" - No Shiest Sherlock

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    • Experts

    1. Elvis impersonator 2. Guy with his scrub top backwards 3. Someone taking out vecuronium 4. Wormy apple 5. Davey ('nuff said). Can't find the other 3 - wait - is one of them a manager actually looking after patients?

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    • Experts
    10 hours ago, Daisy4RN said:

    We didn't have any patients at the med room/pyxis. Why would they do that we they could lay in bed and use the call light! Besides the line for "normal" waiting for the other nurses to get their 20meds/pt we also had the pharmacy techs coming to restock at guess-what-time, that's right 0900, just like clock work! No matter how many times we tried to ask management to have them come a different time it never happened.

    Anything good in the newspaper this morning DaveyDo (or is that your to do list for the day)?

    This makes me so angry. Our boss, as nice and decent and knowledgeable as she was, would not stand up for us when it came to Pharmacy delivering meds right when we were the busiest on the Pyxis.

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    From the back:

    Elvis

    Reading package insert (who does that?!)

    Foot-tapping and scoliosis

    Talking on phone (vs. flipping off those ahead)

    Shirt on backwards

    Food in patient care area

    #1 - Banging on and shouting at the machine is not the correct way to override

    Police - ??‍♀️ He should be watching the action, tho

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    Failed drawers are the worst -- especially when it's one with nothing but narcotics and you have to count. If it happens once in the shift, it happens three or four times and how come I'm always in the med room when that happens?

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    On ‎3‎/‎16‎/‎2019 at 4:46 PM, Ruby Vee said:

    Failed drawers are the worst -- especially when it's one with nothing but narcotics and you have to count. If it happens once in the shift, it happens three or four times and how come I'm always in the med room when that happens?

    We had an entire pocket that would pop out every time we did the big count on Sunday nights. . . It contained Fentanyl patches. Drove me nuts. I'd immediately smack that sucker right back into place. NO! I do not want to take you home! :no: The worst part about our Pyxis is that it's in the nursing station, with everyone else running around talking to you, patients leaning in the med door asking questions, phones ringing and folks expecting you to stop what you're doing to answer them. No one seems to care that it's an environment just begging for med errors to happen.

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