scared to death

Do you work LTC? That's a tough area for a new grad.

First off never, ever check off a med as "given" when you haven't yet. This leads to an increased risk of med errors by omission. It is way too easy for what you described to happen... Get called a way, forget that you didn't draw that med yet, and administer, all the while not realizing that just made a med error.

It's fairly easy to track meds not given in LTC if you have the med cards that I am familiar with. The big cards with 30 pills in plastic bubbles that you pop out. If someone were being looked at for not administering medications then the off going nurse could easily mark or make note of the amount of pills on the card. The nurse in question works her shift, the next oncoming nurse makes note of how many pills are now left on the cards. When this happened at my facility the medications chosen to be audited/checked were random.

Make sure that you are giving all your medications and you should be fine.

You could ask your supervisor about what you heard as well.

I don't think anyone would report you to the board unless you were obviously never giving medications, which they would only determine after investigating.

Always, always follow the 5 rights for giving medications. If you are in LTC or in acute care, these will never, ever let you down. It is very difficult to give meds when there are so many distractions. Make sure you are focusing on the task at hand, I usually will not leave my med cart to help pts to the bathroom etc. because I am giving the meds. If you document that you have given a med and really you have not that is false documentation and that is a concern. If the patient refuses to take the med when offered, then you circle the space where you would sign off/do what the computer program lets you and note the reason why the medication was not given either on the med kardex or in the nurses notes. Pts do have the right to refuse medications. Don't let your fears get the best of you. No matter where you work in this field, it seems someone is trying to get to you in one way or another. I would approach the workers you feel are talking about you and ask them directly what they think you are doing etc. Just because you give your medications differently than they do does not mean you are doing anything wrong. If a patient refuses a medication, the attending MD or NP should know about it, if it is a cardiac or B/P medication you should be checking their vital signs to see how they are tolerating without the medication. Use your judgement, but the patient does have the right to refuse. All medications are given for a reason, so unless your facility has parameters to hold medications, there is no other reason(other than refusal) to not give them.

Are you charting you gave these meds than forgetting to give them? How many are you "forgetting"? If you are being investigated, then it's not just one med you have forgotten to give, it's multiples. Plus what kinds are you forgetting to give? Are they narcotics? Are they antibiotics that a patient needs to get over an infection? I guess I'm having a problem with you forgetting to give meds and then saying well everyone forgets sometimes. Meds are important. If say you forget to give an epileptic their anticonvulsants and they have a seizure and die, then what are you going to say? What if someone has a bad case of pneumonia and they are not getting their antibiotics? What if it's coumadin and they get a clot? I hope you understand what I am getting at here. More important than say being investigated is these patients who may not be getting their life saving medications.

Unmm... A nurses aide informed you? Is she trustworthy? How would she know what you're being investigated for? If she is trustworthy, do like the OPs told you and do your best to give meds on time and be aware of snitches. CYA! (Cover your own a@@)

Don't worry. Gossip isn't worth much. Do the best you can to cover your license. If you work in a sh@tty facility , I'm sorry. That's rough. BTDT!