The other day I went for an interview at a private senior's residence. It's for semi-autonomous seniors and the job looks really interesting. There's just one thing that they do that made me really nervous. They use "technicians" trained by them to dispense the medications for the residents. They do that under the RN's license. In other words, the RN is responsible. The lady who was interviewing me told me that it would be my responsibility to do "spot checks" to make sure the meds were dispensed correctly.
My first instinct was "no way!" I worked too long and too hard to maintain my license and my good reputation to have it ruined by someone else's mistake. Several of my nurse friends agreed with me. It's ridiculous and certainly can't be legal. Yet someone else....a doctor actually.....told me that this is quite common, especially in the US. (I'm Canadian)
I'm going to contact my provincial order of nurses today to find out but I wanted to know from other nurses in other countries and even Canadian provinces if this is a common thing. Is it? Or is my first instinct to "RUN" right on the money?
It's a shame because the job looks really good but not so good that I'm willing to potentially risk my license.
