Safe to administer prefilled weekly med boxes? Sounds fishy..

[girlr6RN]

I just oriented with a patient, who's primary nurse has been with the pt for 9 yrs. A light bulb went off when I was told that we are to give the prefilled medication weekly/daily planner out of the containers and give to the patient. Am I being too picky? I tried to mention to the nurse how would I know what I"m giving- she said the Mom could leave the original med containers out for the first day for comparison, and to not worry about it since there aren't that many pills/meds to give. I am thinking about mentioning this to the clinical supervisor....Should I? BTW, I was just hired 2 wks ago with this agency.

[caliotter3]

More than once this topic has come up in different hh cases where I have worked, and more than once I have been reminded that I am not to dispense meds that have been prepared/poured by anyone else. The latest time, I was warned by the supervisor that the mom prepared the meds for the nurses to give. Since the containers are right there for me to look at, I make sure that I'm giving the correct meds/doses and haven't made an issue of it. This is just another example of one nurse "going with the flow" and making it hard for those who want to play by the rules. If you are not sure of what is in the boxes, then I would insist that the containers be left available for you to compare. That is the only way that you can be certain unless you pour the meds yourself. Gently tell the family that you are protecting the patient as well as your nursing license. Be firm. When they tell you that the other nurse goes along with this, then tell them the other nurse is not responsible for your practice and your license.