Should medication aides exist?

Published

  1. Should medication aides exist?

    • 116
      Yes
    • 347
      No
    • 39
      Not Sure

502 members have participated

Medication aides should not exist. Nurses must band together to fight against taking our skills and giving them to under-qualified persons. Sure we are overloaded with work, but they should hire more nurses to alleviate our burden. We should never accept an unsafe, undereducated "medication aide" to assist us. If they keep giving away our skills to uneducated people, soon we will be competing against them for jobs while they are willing to take half the pay. Then who do you think companies will hire?

Do you think medication aides should exist?

Specializes in Rehab, LTC, Peds, Hospice.

There were enough nurses at our facility. Then they cut our LTC floor from 3 nurses to 2. Despite the fact that they routinely admit rehab patients to that floor. Then send them downstairs when a bed opens up. They thought they would use the now 'extra' nurses to float and change their schedules to fix holes in the facilities' schedule. Did it work? Nope, mass exodus of nurses and even long time administrative staff who couldn't cope with the decline in care. So now they are shorter than ever! :banghead:(Including me in the exodus - yay!:wink2:)

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Specializes in Neurovascular, Ortho, Community Health.
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.

Like others have said, in instances like that, more NURSES should be hired.

It is extremely dangerous to have personnel administering DRUGS who have no education on pathophysiology, mode of action, critical side effects, etc.

Look at the hundreds of people who die each year from medication errors!!! Untrained staff administering drugs is unsafe patient practice, period.

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Specializes in Geriatrics looking to branch out.

I began in an assisted living facility as a med aide and even at that time as I held the position I didn't feel the overall concept was a good idea. Too man of my fellow med aides did not take the time to learn about drug interactions side effects etc. As I was enthralled with the field of nursing I learned everything I could about the conditions and medications of my patients but as that is not required or expected many others blindly gave medications and treatments and MANY errors were made. And as for the residents required to be A&O X 3 in know in Washington and California that is not the case as both places I have worked have Assisted livings all over with Alzheimer's dementia units and though the residents are ambulatory for the most part they are by no means A&O X1 even a lot of times, so for all they know they could have not received their medications in a month and would never know the difference.

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Absolutely not!!

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Should medication aides exist........ In what setting I have worked in group homes for many years. As part of my job duties I am required to admin. medication This is approved, monitored and certified by the state.

Do not get me wrong I do not think that I should be giving medication outside of this setting ... but because I have worked in this field for a long time, I now have the opportunity to attend LPN school with some basic knowledge of the five rights. Being in this field has given me some experiences that I might not have received other wise.

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I am disgusted by the idea of medication aides. I will never work with them! I do not believe unskilled aides should be dispensing meds withe life-threatening adverse effects. I will also never take medication from a medication aide if I am a patient and know who they are.

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Specializes in psych. rehab nursing, float pool.

I have never worked in anything other than a hospital so I have no first hand experience working with a medication aide.

As I read some of the posts it did get me to recalling when I first started my career I was not familiar with every medication I saw on a patient's MAR. I had to refer to either the PDR, or Nurse Drug Handbook.

While in school we memorized the most common medications expected to be given the cardiacs, antihypertensives etc, etc. It was a base simply that. Becoming familiar with name, dosages, usuage, potential side effects, nursing alerts have been an on going education sometimes daily as more and more new drugs are being put on the market.

my hypothesis to this: as with anyone we educate on an on going basis, give them the tools they need to perform their jobs. Show them where the resources can be found. Assist the individual not judge the title.

As an LPN, I am not particularly feeling threatened. I can make a case either way for the use of a medication aide. Its the individual who can make or break someone's impression of a particular title, not always just the title alone..

Look at how many RN's ( not all just a few) feel we LPN's have no place in the hospital setting.

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Specializes in Geriatrics looking to branch out.

I definitely agree that some medication aides are more than capable of performing the duties effectively....The problem is that there is no system to ensure they are taught properly the importance of knowing what they are giving and why and what it can do......They are not taught things like if it doesn't look or sound right it probably isn't...it is okay to question the pharmacy or the Dr....you might save a life....(just recently it was noticed that the pharmacy had packaged up Vicodin and labeled it as potassium and it went unnoticed for 2 weeks...This could have had VERY bad effects though luckily it didn't. Med allergy, plummeting K+ levels..)Through the incredible difficult schooling process I saw several people who I wouldn't trust with my enemies get weeded out because they did not have the common sense, logic or attention to detail required....med aides have no process to make sure they are safe...often they are thrown into the slot out of desperation to fill gaps in the schedule as they are just as understaffed as everyone else in the medical field if not more so because the pay is worse. In California when I was a med aide I did not even have to be a CNA I was a young kid who "fell" into the career of geriatric care and happened to fall in love with it and the field of nursing but by no means was I "qualified" for the amount of responsibility I was giving. Only my passion for the field and my patients ensured the safety of all involved though I caught MANY errors by other med aides that were often swept under the rug because well who else is gonna fill the slot?

Kara

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

There WAS a day when patients had less than 5 medications daily.

Today average patient discharged from a SNF to homecare has over TEN oral meds with multiple admin times.....been tracking this issue at my agency.

Ten meds x 25 patients typical SNF unit = over 250 meds in ONE AM med pass....

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I think it's ok as long as they have had sufficient training. Also, that they get payed more than a CNA, $12./hr or more. I've worked with a med aide in TX (I didn't know they only had 10 hrs training!) and they couldn't give injections, only PO meds. It was still a big help to me. I've worked in LTC and had 60 pts to give meds, tube feedings and change dressing for. I had no help giving meds. I rushed around all shift trying to get done. This was in PA. If I'd only had a med aide to give helf the floor, it'd make a great difference. I stress again, when they have had proper training in the clsassroom and adequate clinicals.

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Specializes in ER,ICU,L+D,OR.

I support medication aides.

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.

studies indicate that 800,000 preventable drug-related injuries occur each year in long-term care settings.

elderly people deserve the same level of competent care as everybody else.

yet no one has ever heard of a medication aide in a hospital.:)

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