"Right" way to pulls meds from cards?

[Pat_Pat RN]

Is there a right or wrong way?

Tell me how you do it.

[vintagemother, BSN, CNA, LVN, RN]

What do you mean , exactly ? are. You talking about bubble packs? (-:

[Blackcat99]

If you are talking about bubble packs they usually come in 30 tablets. The 1st dose should be the top tablet on the far left side. So start at the top and go down in order then back to the top going down in order than back to the next top tablet. That is the correct way. At my LTC, it's a mess because no one is doing it correctly.

[pookyp, LPN]

You're supposed to pull from the left where there's an arrow saying START. But no one does. Lol

And you put the little medicine cup under where you're going to pop it and let it fall in the cup.

[caliotter3]

And be careful to check the back of the card too. Sometimes a tablet or capsule will find its way out of its nook and someone will "tape" it back in place. These taped back meds have a funny habit of finding their way out of the card again and may end up anywhere, particularly a problem when they are a controlled med and then the count goes off.

[vampiregirl, BSN, RN]

And be careful to check the back of the card too. Sometimes a tablet or capsule will find its way out of its nook and someone will "tape" it back in place. These taped back meds have a funny habit of finding their way out of the card again and may end up anywhere, particularly a problem when they are a controlled med and then the count goes off.

In Indiana, "taping" a narc is considered tampering with a med by the ISDH. This is something that the state surveyors checked for during our last survey.

[Pat_Pat RN]

In Indiana, "taping" a narc is considered tampering with a med by the ISDH. This is something that the state surveyors checked for during our last survey.

Interesting. Completely stupid, but whatever.

[Pat_Pat RN]

I guess I should've been more clear. Although what everyone has said is very valid.

When I pop my pills from the bubble cards I don't take the card out of the drawer. I pull the card up as high as I need to to get the cup against the back of the next pill, pop it and drop or push the card back into the drawer where it 2as.

Some people pull all the cards out of the drawer, find the drugs they need and make another pile of them. Put all the not needed ones back in the drawer, pop their pills from the cards still out, then put all those back in the cart.

Others pull just the cards that are needed, pile them on the top of the cart, pop their pills and shove the whole bunch back in the drawer.

I like to keep them all in the drawer, in alphabetical order so you know when you pull the Coreg, that the metoprolol is going to be behind it, maybe not directly behind it but somewhere behind it.

[Blackcat99]

At my LTC, when they accidently take out the wrong narcotic, they always try to tape it right back up. They get upset with me when I tell them that no, they have to waste the narcotic. I also find empty cards all the time on the cart and of course they didn't bother to remove the medication sticker and actually re-order the medications. I am sometimes left with nothing to give the resident. It is also very irritating to have to go thru the hassle of going into the" emergency kit" to get a narcotic because no one bothered to re-order the narcotics.

Oh the joy of working different shifts on different halls!!!

[ClearBlueOctoberSky]

No one at my facility keeps cards alphabetically.

I will pull the entire card to pop. Sometimes, I bring all of my cards, but usually one at a time. When I put them back, it is in the order that I popped them, with the most recent at the front. That way, if I get interrupted, it gives me a third (or fourth) check on where I left off on my pass.

[Blackcat99]

Interesting. Completely stupid, but whatever.

It's not stupid at all. Unfortunately, there are still some "drug addict" nurses working in LTC. Our LTC fired a "drug addict" nurse just last week.

[Pat_Pat RN]

Explain how taping an accidently popped pill back where it goes has anything to do with stealing drugs.