question on medication cart do' or don'ts....

[memonurse]

Hello all nurses.... My name is Jim and I just started working as a LPN in a nursing facility in Red Bank. I was in orientation for a week and now on my own. My questin is: is it policy if one DOES NOT have a medication for a certain patient that one searches OTHER drawers for a patient on the same medication and TAKE from THAT patient's drawer? I ask because it seems to be a common practice where I am now employed: and if I do not, there will be NO medication to give my patient obn my rounds. Should I talk to someone about this? Is this a common occurance elsewhere? I know how the pharmacy in a facility can be...always late in delivery, but the situation has been quite bad; moreover it is time-consuming. I have 26 patients on my wing I take care of. PLEASE help me: anyone who knows the rules; as I was NOT taught this in nursing school as one of my 5 rights of giving medication, and am afraid to bring this up to the Director of Nursing at the facility for fear of being canned!! I only started working last month and this is my first nursing position.

Thanks. Awaiting all replies. Jimmy from South Amboy, NJ

[BarbaraK]

Jim,

First make sure your patient has an order for that medication.

Errors in transcribing may have occured.

Please tell your nurse manager or charge nurse.

Let her/him find out why this medication is not available for you to give to your patient. It could be the paharmacy never got the fax order form.

By no means take from the other patients draw.

[BarbPick]

Taking from other pt's draw is a lazy habit, and no one wins.

I would ask the nurse directly in charge of you what their standard practice is in the facility. Is it an outside pharmacy or in house pharmacy and how can you communicate with them on missing meds.

Congrats on being out of orientation and thanks for asking.

[crankyasanoldma]

I worked very briefly at a facility that used that same method. Personally, I feel it's a sign of bad management. "We've always done it that way" is a poor excuse, too. I don't know of any facility that still uses those little drawers anymore. Is yours a state or federal facility? You could rally for change, but risk not to be popular for it. Maybe you could think of some suggestions to improve the situation. Be on the alert for others signs of sloppy work. Good luck.

[shull]

I was taught that you never take a med from another patient. Check the orders and then fax them to the pharmacy again, unless you have a pharmacy at the facility. When the med gets low there is a practice in place to reorder. It is everyone's responsibility to make sure the meds are getting reordered.

[dawn30]

I work in an LTC in south Jersey and we DO borrow meds from other patients when we need one. Most of the residents who are in my facility are on psych meds and MUST have their meds. We only borrow from a resident on the same med who has enough of that med that one dose will not be missed. We must fill out a borrowed medication form and fax it to the pharm. and also give a copy of it to the D.O.N. A lot of the times that we need to borrow is when we have a new admission who comes in on the 3-11 shift and we know we won't be getting his/her meds until the morning when the pharm delivers again. This new resident needs pain meds or psych meds or anti seizure meds. We can't let this resident go without, so of course we borrow for them. I don't see this practice as lazy at all. I see it as doing what I can to make sure that ALL of my residents have the medication that they need when they need it. The resident borrowed from is NEVER shorted meds. When the pharm gets the borrowed med fax, the reimburse the resident borrowed from.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Depends on what the facility says. But I always "borrow" unless it'll run the patient lending it out of it.