Should medication aides exist?

BradleyRN · Jun 16, 2008

i do not have a problem with the concept of medication aides ...

the concept of the medication aide is to invent a nurse that makes a cna's wage. administrators of ltc facilities drive $60000 cars and live in gated communities at the expense of the nurses and patients. nursing skills belong to nurses only! as they are handed down to uneducated people one by one, the day will come we will all have a problem with it. it isnt necessary for administrators to get rich while compromising our careers and the welfare of the patients to get even richer. if we dont protect our skills, nobody else will either! dont accept giving up even one! :twocents:

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Jun 16, 2008

i see that at one time or another you have been a ltc nurse . then you are aware of the mountains of work involved with being a nurse that works in a nursing home. by giving up one task ( one that is very lengthy and detailed) gives the nurse much needed time to spend assessing patients or to do what ever else piles up on the desk. i spent time this weekend charting at the bedside of a dying patient so she would not be alone when she passed . this is not something i could have if my medication aid was not present. like i said before the i am ok with the concept of medication aides but not the training . they will never be able to replace the licensed nurse ...settle down your job is secure. as long as i make comparable to other nurses in my area i could care less who drives what ..they could drive the hot dog car or a rolls for all i care ...

the concept of the medication aide is to invent a nurse that makes a cna's wage. administrators of ltc facilities drive $60000 cars and live in gated communities at the expense of the nurses and patients. nursing skills belong to nurses only! as they are handed down to uneducated people one by one, the day will come we will all have a problem with it. it isnt necessary for administrators to get rich while compromising our careers and the welfare of the patients to get even richer. if we dont protect our skills, nobody else will either! dont accept giving up even one!

BradleyRN · Jun 17, 2008

this is not something i could have if my medication aid was not present.

in the words of cardiacrn2006....

you didn't need a med aide, you needed another nurse.

i shouldnt have mentioned the administrators. there are enough ill results of the existence of medication aides without including the aspect of who profits from them. medication aides are not meant to relieve the excess workload on a nurse. if that was the desire, hiring another nurse would achieve that. this is a profit driven decision with no regard for the nurse or the patient. i know that having a med aide makes your job easier, but the bigger picture is our skills that we worked so hard to acquire being given away to uneducated people who simply should not be qualified to perform them. they didnt have to work hard to get them like us, just accept a lot less pay. :twocents:

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2008

The facility for which I work mis non-profit. I spent tonight trying to do my systems job on a unit with 42 extremely frail elders, most of whom are demented, with one trying to find her car. Couldn't redirect her.

It took me an hour to do a 5-minute job and the med pass was finished late because the nurses were trying to redirect her. I stayed on the unit while the resident was trying to escape (sorry, elope).

With the increasing number of people reuiring 24/7 care, the refusal to acknowledge that most LTC is now a combination psych unit/chronic care unit, and the lack of people make nursing insane.

Standing at a med cart banging out colace and MOM and Med Pass can be done by a tech, leaving the nurses to concentrate on insulins, dig, olols and prils, controlled substances, etc.

There's enough for nurses to do and we can't get them anyway.

Pay ALL of us more. CNA's, med tachs, LPN's, RN's. And get more of us. Maybe give up ProCrit for someone in the last year of life and take that $1,000 monthly shot and hire 0.5 aides.

Melinurse · Jun 17, 2008

I worked LTC for a few days. During that time on day 3 I was assigned a med-aide so that the RN and I could go over paperwork. Well, there was a sweet, quiet lady who just sat around in her wheelchair she did not talk much, always looked and acted lethargic. She was taking digoxin twice daily. So I watched the med aide take the apical pulse and give the med. I asked afterward what was her heart rate. Amazingly she calmly replies 50. The RN did not look worried either. The RN said, " Oh, she always runs low like that." I told the med-aide she was never ever to pass any cardiac meds for me. She then said " What does digoxin have to do with the heart?" :banghead: So I said never mind I prefer to pass all my meds myself. OMG, I had no idea Texas only trains them for 10 hours. :eek: No wonder. The concept may have been ok but there is some serious need to look into their training. :twocents:

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2008

OMG, I had no idea Texas only trains them for 10 hours. No wonder.

Here's a much-needed clarification.

Medication aides in Texas must complete a 4 to 6 month course in medication administration before they are eligible to take the state certification exam to become a CMA. However, each med aide student must accrue only 10 hours worth of clinical rotations out on the floor prior to the completion of their course. Therefore, the majority of the med aide's "training" is in the classroom.

lindarn · Jun 17, 2008

Sorry gotta disagree. Maybe not in hospitals but in ltc when I have had up to 36 pts I was glad to have a med aide.

Wouldn't you rather have an RN or LPN, who is licensed? If nurses refused to work with unlicensed Medication Aides, Nursing homes would have no choice but to hire more nurses. I never understood why nurses just bend over and take it. Its not like the DON, or wife of the CEO would come down and pass meds in place of the medication aides if the nurse refused to work with them.

Then you could call the State and report the Nursing Home for not meeting the requirements concening med passes.

Lindarn, RN, BSN, CCRN

Spokane, Washington

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2008

i should have clarified myself most programs are a 3-4 month long (2-3 a day a week couple hours a day) but the actual clinical in the end is a minimum of 10 hours long and must be completed in a facility with a licensed nurse. your example is exactly what i am talking about; they need more in depth and better training.

i worked ltc for a few days. during that time on day 3 i was assigned a med-aide so that the rn and i could go over paperwork. well, there was a sweet, quiet lady who just sat around in her wheelchair she did not talk much, always looked and acted lethargic. she was taking digoxin twice daily. so i watched the med aide take the apical pulse and give the med. i asked afterward what was her heart rate. amazingly she calmly replies 50. the rn did not look worried either. the rn said, " oh, she always runs low like that." i told the med-aide she was never ever to pass any cardiac meds for me. she then said " what does digoxin have to do with the heart?" so i said never mind i prefer to pass all my meds myself. omg, i had no idea texas only trains them for 10 hours. no wonder. the concept may have been ok but there is some serious need to look into their training.

Melinurse · Jun 17, 2008

Thanks for the clarification. I thought 10 hours seemed a bit short but, with the experience I had with one, well, it sounded about right. I am sure there are some med-aides out there who are very good and true assets to their nurses. However, I'll stick to passing my own.

txspadequeenRN, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2008

if the nurse refuses to work with the med aide then they get the med pass. they are not going to hire a nurse in place of a med aide just because the unhappy nurse wants them too. they are penny pinching. most ltc nurses are grateful just to have a med aide period the thought of a nurse passing pills...why that would be like walking on streets of gold. ever pass medications to 30 to 40 residents, do treatments on 10 patients, do all your skilled charting on 15 people and provide hospice care to 5 dying patients while being short 2 cna's...then you will be grate full for a cma....

wouldn't you rather have an rn or lpn, who is licensed? if nurses refused to work with unlicensed medication aides, nursing homes would have no choice but to hire more nurses. i never understood why nurses just bend over and take it. its not like the don, or wife of the ceo would come down and pass meds in place of the medication aides if the nurse refused to work with them.
then you could call the state and report the nursing home for not meeting the requirements concening med passes.
lindarn, rn, bsn, ccrn
spokane, washington

Melinurse · Jun 17, 2008

That is the reason I don't work LTC. But I was more than happy to pass own meds, charting, wound care , etc. However, I prefer med-surg in a hospital. Love the teamwork on my floor. We have the best team, the RNs,LPNs,and CNAs all work together. Never got that in LTC. I'm sure there are great LTC facilities out there but this one I was at, WOW. Not good. Did not want to risk my license.

SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN · Jun 17, 2008

Well, there was a sweet, quiet lady who just sat around in her wheelchair she did not talk much, always looked and acted lethargic. She was taking digoxin twice daily. So I watched the med aide take the apical pulse and give the med. I asked afterward what was her heart rate. Amazingly she calmly replies 50. The RN did not look worried either. The RN said, " Oh, she always runs low like that."

Depending on the doctor and patient, our cut-off was 50 or 60. And, frankly, the problem here wasn't the aide. It was the nurse.