Published Jun 12, 2017
NurseCard, ADN
2,850 Posts
So, I work on a small Med Surge unit.
We get all of our meds from an Accudose.
On Sunday nights, we have to count all of the narcotics in
the Accudose. Generally, one person will count the pills
and syringes, the other person will witness and maybe
put all of the numbers into the little computer screen.
When I do the pill counting, I constantly cause "cabinet
errors", meaning I didn't get the little cabinets closed
properly. When this happens, the whole narcotic
count basically shuts down and has to be done all
over again. These errors are caused by there being
too many pills or syringes stuffed into one drawer.
I often have to restart my count 3,4 times. I'm the
ONLY person who seems to be having this problem.
It makes me SO frustrated and angry!
I'm at the point where I'm about to refuse to count
any more... but I hate to make my coworker do the
counting because she is very short and it's harder on
her physically; the accudose is kinda tall, some of the
med drawers are harder for her to reach.
I have emailed the pharmacist about maybe reducing
the narcotic count by taking out meds that we don't
use often. We are such a small unit and it's ridiculous
to have that many meds in there anyway. We'll see
how that goes over.
NutmeggeRN, BSN
2 Articles; 4,675 Posts
Narcs are only counted 1 x weekly? I have no idea how Accudose works.
caliotter3
38,333 Posts
Make a deal with the short nurse, coffee or cookies or something else she likes, and get one of those little step stools for her to use.
~Mi Vida Loca~RN, ASN, RN
5,259 Posts
I hated using the accudose machine, it's what Duke uses and I had gotten so used to Pyxsis it kept throwing me off because it does it's stuff opposite of what I was used too. I am with Caliotter. Bargain with the other nurse.
KelRN215, BSN, RN
1 Article; 7,349 Posts
When I worked in the hospital, we only did Inventory of the controlled substances once/week. Every time you pulled one, you did have to count that specific drug.
organichombre, ADN, BSN, MSN, LPN, RN
220 Posts
cURIOUS? wHY ARE YOU THE ONLY ONE HAVING ISSUES?