Question about drug administration

OgopogoLPN, LPN, RN · Jul 17, 2010

Oh my. That is so against every med admin rule! I would NEVER participate in that. EVER. I wouldn't even admin if my fellow coworker nurse stood beside me and prepared and handed it to me to give. Check with your state board/nursing board/ something to give to management in writing to let them know how wrong/unsafe that is.

agldragonRN · Jul 17, 2010

hi everyone, i have been viewing threads on this site for some time now, but i have never posted anything. i need some advice on a situation i am having. i am a lvn working at an assisted living facility as a caregiver. the facility does drug administration a little different. we have a medication tech who prepares the meds and then she has the caregivers administer the meds to the residents. i don't like this because i have no idea what drugs i am giving to the resident. so what i want to know is, am i putting my license at risk for administering drugs that i have not prepared?

please be very careful! you are putting your lpn license at risk every time you give these meds out prepared by the medication tech. if something bad were to happen, you would be held to the higher standard because you have a nursing license even though you are functioning as a caregiver. i know assisted living facilities have these policies that "can" cover you in case something bad happen but i would assume the board of nursing will still hold you responsible because you have a nursing license.

i heard of the reverse situation where the lpn is the one that prepares the meds and the med tech will administer which makes more sense. this is just my opinion and your best source of info is the state board of nursing because you will ultimately answer to them not your facility. give them details and scenarios and see what they say.

oh by the way, you might want to buy a nursing Liability Insurance. it's like a 100 bucks a year and it covers you. try nso dot com.

good luck,

angel

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 17, 2010

I live in a state where medication aides administer the oral meds. Not only is it perfectly legal in my state, but I prefer doing business this way. To be perfectly honest, I don't like having all of my time tied up with a lengthy medication pass, so I'd rather have a competent medication aide do it.

However, if the medication aide prepares the meds, he/she should give them to the patient. The medication aide should not prepare meds and then hand them to a caregiver to give to the patient.

guest2210 · Jul 17, 2010

At a midwest AL facility, the care associates could pour and admin oral meds and eye drops to their residents. It was a private pay facility and for the LPN to admin the meds would cost the resident an extra $900 a month. the attending would sign a form stating it was ok for the CA to admin the meds. We didn't even have med carts. The meds were in a locked drawer in the resident's room. Eventually, some of the newer CAs made so many mistakes, and acuity levels changed so dramatically, that now the LPNs give all the meds with their little med carts. It was totally within the state's guidelines concerning AL facilities for the CAs to administer resident's meds.

systoly · Jul 18, 2010

Nutts, completely nutts. License on the line or not, why would you wanna administer mystery drugs. It's not just facilities that come up with such nonsense. Many years ago while practicing as an LPN in Ohio, per the board of nursing, I was not allowed to add KCL to IV bags, but could hang it if an RN had mixed it - you gotta be sh.....g me.

dblpn · Jul 18, 2010

I don't like this because I have no idea what drugs I am giving to the resident. So what I want to know is, am I putting my license at risk for administering drugs that I have not prepared?

YES, YES, YES, YES! Never give medication that you have no knowledge of that someone else has administered. They drilled that into our heads in nursing school. I swear a lot of these facilities are putting their license on the line not to mention the health of the patients.

Lorrie34 · Aug 1, 2010

Completely unsafe! Not just for you and your license but for the resident as well! I administer my own meds and when I'm doing my pass, if I'm dispensing a med I don't know or can't recall, my med book is in my cart and I look it up before I pop the pill into the cup and travel into the room to administer it...EVEN if the resident has end-stage demtia!

I NEED to know WHAT I'm giving and HOW it will work, if there are parameters on the med or not too! Too many times I have seen in my MAR to give Midodrine with no parameters, or Procrit without the H&H parameters and I have seen other nurses make the unfortunate mistake of giving these meds then without checking those parameters! I recently had an inicident where LPNs with above 20 years of experience were giving Amiodorone to a resident with a heart rate in the 40s!!! OUCH! That is why it is soo important to know what you are giving and what it does.

I would never, never give a med that somebody else poured even if I see the word "tylenol" written right on the pill itself.

CT Pixie, BSN, RN · Aug 1, 2010

Oh hell to the NO! I would never give meds I didn't pull/pour/draw up myself.